ABSTRACT

The paper analyses the embeddedness of informality in the city and ambiguities among low-income families around what constitutes the formal and informal in the arenas of housing, lottery betting and labour. Through ethnography of women navigating various dimensions of informality in Salvador, Brazil, the paper portrays the gendered circumstances and vulnerabilities of making a living and maintaining a home in peripheral neighbourhoods in the city. Specifically, the paper examines the implications of debt on women’s lives and life choices in the informal city. The paper demonstrates that formality was often beyond their means and aspirations whereas many informal practices, including credit practices, enable life to continue by providing a meagre income and the opportunity to avoid expenses such as rent and utility bills. Yet these same practices keep women on the margins of the city and the formal economy. Marginality engenders vulnerability, exacerbated during periods of turbulence as seen in the current context of Brazil’s economic downturn and struggle to manage the Covid-19 pandemic. The paper highlights state attempts and failures to reduce informality and sheds light on the production and persistence of informal housing, services and work in the city.

摘要

本文分析了城市中非正规性的嵌入性以及低收入家庭在住房、彩票投注和劳动力领域的正规和非正规构成方面的模糊性。通过对巴西萨尔瓦多不同维度的女性进行民族志研究，该论文描绘了在城市周边社区谋生和维持家庭的性别环境和脆弱性。具体来说，本文研究了债务对非正式城市女性生活和生活选择的影响。该论文表明，形式往往超出了他们的能力和愿望，而许多非正式做法，包括信贷做法，通过提供微薄的收入和避免租金和水电费等费用的机会，使生活得以继续。然而，同样的做法使女性处于城市和正规经济的边缘。边缘化会导致脆弱性，在动荡时期加剧，这在当前巴西经济低迷和难以应对 Covid-19 大流行的背景下可见一斑。该论文强调了国家在减少非正规性方面的尝试和失败，并阐明了城市中非正规住房、服务和工作的产生和持续存在。