12

Corridor of Hope

Similarly, this suspended "bridge" is much more suitable than the

ordinary concrete one where seasonal flood and overflowing of rivers
make it quite unfit to the needs of village dwellers. Concrete bridges
often get severely damaged or blown away in bad weather.
It would be interesting to sit down and talk with this woman to know
more in details how she wins her livelihood daily as she maintains her
balance in juggling all these chores coming to her from so many different
levels and angles. However, what is clear in this subsistence economy is
the ability of this actor to remain open and vigilant in order to improvise
tools and methods in an environment that is naturally demanding and
cannot be easily codified into routine practice.

Section 2
f;G)~

Simple Means of Production in the

Informal Economy: Carpet-Wool Tripod,
Milk-Shaker Tripod, and A New Room

his tripod with apparent simple structure is used to perform

multifaceted functions in the household economy with products that
eventfully find their ways to urban markets. First, it works to hold the
sheep's wool in proper position to be dried for dying. In the next stage,
the wool-threads will go into the making of famous Carpets for its
endurance and resilience under adverse climate. The local residents prepare
the threads by cutting the sheep's wool and after considerable hard hand
weaving they reutilize it in the final process of carpet making.
Furthermore, the tripod is used for shaking the milk to change it into
butter as well when the carpet related activities go into its seasonal slumber.
Usually, milk is transferred into a container made of goatskin. The
container is then hung form this tripod to be manually shaken by moving
it back and forth in order to change the milk into butter.
In the context of informal economy, obviously the tools of production
in carpeting as well as in dairy products are shockingly simple, labor
intensive requiring so little investment. It is possible to modernize this

14

Corridor of Hope

tripod for a higher productivity and thus higher income. For example,
the shaking of goatskin container could be done by small electric device,
instead of hands. Of course introducing technology into an old age
economic practice is always a risky business when it comes down to
cultural issues and therefore all sides should be observed before one
embark on such practice. Or else, it would be very hard not to avoid
destroying cultural fabric so crucial to survival of particular way of life
with careless dumping of technology from without into traditional
economic equation with deep roots and historical uniqueness.
In background, a room with window and white curtain in the second
floor can be seen. It is recently being added in order to house the oldest
son of the family with his new bride. In communal economy, family
members tend to live quite close to one another both socially and spatially.
Adding new room to the existing housing unit for the growing kinship
is quite a common practice. Of course through the generalized process of
reciprocity and obligation, the new family will return this favor by helping
their parents during the harvest time, the busiest economic time in the
village life, and protect the strategic interests of the kinship in the village
when their stake is in dispute.
However similar activities for expanding and remodeling the existing
home in the urban areas could take an ugly political twist particularly
among the shantytown communities and residents in confronting the
authorities. The city officials often see the practice as a direct violation
of city code and the erosion of their authority. There are many cases of
confrontation reported where the government in the existing shantytown
and poor neighborhood demolishes the new unauthorized units.
Thus, the simple, informal, and relatively harmonious economic
relations in the housing construction as well as in the production of dairy
produce and carpet are supported by a complex culture of mutual obligation
and trust, cushioning society in the long term from the erosive, not
constructive, impact of social dispute and conflict over the distribution
of scarce resources.

Simple Means of Production in the Informal Economy

15

Section 3
f0~

The Salt Man: Street Vendors

Recycling and Informal Economy
n most regions in the Middle East and Sub-Saharan regions, strong
sanctions are being placed on wasteful treatment of food items,
particularly bread. Historical background to this practice can be traced
back to periodic famine and drought in which the urban consumers became
extremely vulnerable due to farming uncertainty. Therefore, it is not
surprising to find strong religious ethos in social practice to strongly
condemn the abuse, misuse, and non-use offood-items that could become
suddenly scarce without a prior notice.
These strongly held believes stem from the shard ideology rooted in
religion in various forms and shades, that bread is the gift of Lord to
mankind therefore it has to be accorded with respect and dignity. Bread
is specially considered the most sacred food item for it is the key source
for sustenance and nourishment of life. There must be numerous daily
cultural rituals in treating the bread for its strategic dietary importance.
Thus, elevating this particular diet to the status of a deity: how to cut the
bread; places that bread can't be eaten; what to do with peace of bread
found in street, so on and so forth.

19

Corridor of Hope

The Salt Man: Street Vendors Recycling and Informal Economy

In the picture, you see a young migrant in his mid 20's, pushing a
cart full of dry bread and salt for winning a living. As there is no valuable
capital or viable skill absorbed into this business, one may ask what is in
the nature of this activity that enables the actor to obtain a living wage?
Looking beneath the surface, this man is involved in a strategic transaction
where the household waste is channeled into animal husbandry industry
to be used as food for feeding the animals.
Old and/or smashed bread does not taste good and can no longer be
reused in the household except in rare cases. Therefore, old bread is
accumulated (remember the religious ethos) over the course of time for
deliverance to the street vendors in exchange for salt. The system in
which bread is collected by the vendor is rather interesting. The vendor
shouts loud in the active hours of day in the residential alleys and streets
of city "Here is the salt man, here is the salt man; we buy dry old bread,
we buy dry old bread" or something similar to that effect. Once the
voice of hawker is heard, members of household who have accumulated
enough dry bread, go out with their full bucket of bread in exchange for
salt. The salt is very rough and inexpensive and often collected from the
river by the hawker himself free of charge. Occasionally, the exchange
occurs in small cash transaction although not welcomed by the salt-man
for it shows more openly how cheaply he is buying the leftover breads
that could cast a demeaning picture of him as stingy grouch.
One has to know here that the job of shouting all days in streets and
alleys while pushing a heavy cart manually must be a tiresome work; not
to mention traffic laws that sometimes are broken as salt man must move
on from one community to the next.
There are several points worth questioning with respect to this cashless
transaction: 1. There is an imbalance between the value of salt and the
value of bread which makes it rather difficult to explain by simple
economic models; that is, bread is bought below its real value during
exchange for salt, quite similar to what goes on in a typical garage sale
out in open. 2. What does the salt man do with bread when finding
customers and then transporting the materials from one destination to
another? 3. The role of the informal economy in putting labor intensive
technology back in synchrony with nature, the scarce resources, and the
way all these activities fit with the philosophy of recycling now becoming
so pivotal to sustainable economic development in most of highly
industrialized societies with their high energy consumption.

On the first point, the imbalance in the value of bread and salt reaches
equilibrium as a result of "spiritual" trade-off for the bread collectorsthe bread is not wasted. On the second point, the salt man will sell
breads, relatively at a good price; to "cow men" who in turn will put
them in good use as food supply with no hormone or chemical preservative
for his animals. And on the last point, one can see an almost prefect and
not wastefulness economy where the unskilled and illiterate hawkers,
peddling through the city's street with no capital or experience, can make
a big difference in circulating the precious and perishable goods and
services among the interested parties by becoming a valuable factor in
recycling the scarce resources.

18

Section 6
f0~

A Semi-Traditional Bakery

read and Bakery have special valued place in much of North African
and Middle Eastern folklore, history, and religion. Possibly because
of periodic famine and frequent drought in the past, these regions in the
world treat bread, key to human survival, with special respect and consider
the baker's job a key component to the well being of society not only
physically but also spiritually. A constant reminder that without baker
society remains so vulnerable to decay both in body and in spirit.
In this bakery, piles of dough getting ready to go to a huge oven with
the help of three workers who work without complain in excessive heat
beyond ordinary human tolerance. The condition of work is often substandard as workers often endure extreme heat in front of a +450f oven
for many hours every day. The workers hardy sit and the conditions of
work require them to be in a constant standing posture. The baker who is
responsible for throwing the dough into oven and to make sure the dough
are pulled out from the oven on time, gets the most heat in this life
saving economic activity. Because of high temperature, it is a rarity to
find over-weight bakers for they literally melt every bit of body fat in
front of these open hell hot oven.
Notice the red shelf and a glass of water under the counter in pictures.
The cold water is in high demand particularly in hot summer and the

32

Corridor of Hope

workers use more than 6 to 10 gallons of drinking water to cool off their
thirst to prevent dehydration. Customers waiting in line are also seen in
picture.
The traditional bakery shop often has a huge room, the floor of
which is covered by extremely blazing sands upon which flattened out
dough is laid (quite similar to pizza bread). Several people can easily fit
into this hell-like room in which the dough is placed. The room has no
window but only one small quasi-oval shape hole through which the
baker is able to monitor the baking of bread for proper baking.
The business of bakery fits many characteristics of the informal sector
firms well. It is small, relatively labor intensive, the workers have few
years of formal education, there is an easy of entry, and the conditions of
work is often excruciating. However, because of the strategic place that
bread occupies with respect to human hunger and survival, the bakery
has become a highly regulated economic activity despite its informality.
For example, clever and responsible governments in much of these regions
have done their best to control the price of bread. That is to guarantee
steady supply of subsidized bread to people which in turn helped political
stability.
One could find interesting tales in most of these societies about bread,
famine and the government role. For example, it is a popular tale in oral
history that a king visited a bakery without a prior notice and spotted
over-pricing of bread. To teach every one a lesson in business, the tale
says the king grabbed the baker and threw him alive into the oven for the
pilferage and fiddling. Different variations on similar tale in various
regions show that instability in supply of bread equaled political instability
in society at large and even the least popular leaders often found themselves
in the same front fighting along the common people when the issue was
bread, bread scarcity, and over pricing. In the context of the regulating
the informal economy of bakery, also the amount of flower wheat
distributed to bakery was tightly controlled by government in order to
make sure that the flower-wheat was not either sold in the black economy
or withdrawn from the consumers.
This government practice should be understood in the context of
social classes and their access to strategic food resources. Poor in these
regions do not have any institutional safety net to protect them in hard
time. However, the price of bread has been always subsidized for the
urban poor to make sure that they at least get something to eat to save
them from starvation. Price of bread under these conditions is often 10

A Semi-Traditional Bakery

33

times lower than their real value, and many critics see such policy as one
of the major factors in discouraging competitive farming in the rural
sector, therefore, causing displacement and rural-urban migration. the
opinion that this author find it highly class biased and unsubstantiated.
There must be other ways to increase farming productivity and to
encourage competition without starving the poor with escalating high
prices.
The baker often makes additional money by side-jobs within the
already informal firm in order to enhance his income. For example, he
may sell herb and spice in small quantity with some open advertising.
The workers also use the oven to fix hot water for tea as well as for
preparing lunch or dinner. Fatty and inexpensive meat, beans, water,
tomato, and the necessary spices are put in the earthenware pot and
placed inside the oven as they begin their day work before lunchtime.
With no supervision this nutritious meal gets ready on lunchtime.
One can observe a tremendous sense of effervesce during lunch time
among the bakers when they eat their meal with great appetite and pleasure
while saving money, although there are occasions that they do break this
monotony by having once in a while lunch in the near by restaurant.
Bakery comes is diversity of forms and styles and it is not necessarily
monopolized by men. In North America and in Europe as well as in the
regions just mentioned, women do actively participate in bakery both
openly in public as well as at home. After all there is nothing taste so
good like fresh bread right out of the oven with sweet butter, fresh
yogurt, or cheese in between or on the top of it. If one can not win the
bread; then there is nothing to win! Be a breadwinner!

42

Corridor of Hope

Section 8
f0~

The Informal Economy and

Modem Technology: Informal
Craftsmanship and Rural Economy

he level of technological sophistication varies from industry to

industry, from informal sector to formal sector, and from rural areas
to urban regions. For example, International Labor Organization literature
often characterizes the informal economy with primitive technology.
However, in certain cases, various technological levels could coexist
side by side in an economic activity therefore supporting the overall
level of productivity with respect to available human as well as natural
resources. It is not easy to come with an exact recipe of this articulation
as the proportion of modem technology to primitive technology varies
from situation to situation in the informal economy.
In this picture you see modem tractor (Model: Casey), hand-made
clay storage house, and hand-made fuel from animal deposit-dung and
yellow pile of wheat. The labor that goes to the making of dung is the
simplest one. The animal deposits are collected by the village manually
and with water are turned into flat plate like object. They are kept outside under sun to dry and latter will be used in the winter for cooking as

44

Corridor of Hope

well as heating purpose. Dung while is drying attracts large number of

flies that interfere with health and comfort of the residents. Of course
this problem vanishes as flies go into their recessive stage during winter.
By the same token, the storage houses for wheat and barely is entirely
made by human hand. The construction materials are also very simple,
mostly from mud-brick, clay. The roof is supported by trunk of trees,
cut from the local areas.
On the other hand, modern tractors are used to plough the land and
the combine machines are used in time of harvest, yet sophisticated
machinery is used simultaneously and harmoniously with archaic tools
or mode of production.
It must be noted that the use of advanced technology has other effects
on the informal sector of rural economy. On the one hand, it increases
the technological literacy of the residents who use it, and on the other
hand, it is a welcome opportunity for the small landholders to lease their
land and migrate to the cities. With high technological input to grow
agricultural crops, poor peasants or small land-holders often find this
practice economically reasonable to rent their land and to look for manual
jobs, often in the construction sector, in the city. While certain group
may benefit from migration, if not culturally, but economically, it has
been an important factor in reducing complementary agricultural produce
such as animal husbandry, dairy product, rug and similar handcraft, and
host of other products.
The reason is rather clear for this sharp reduction in the adjunct rural
products. People who migrate to city often abandon their village and
their house, and it becomes impossible to be engaged in the production
of such items when one is miles away from his or her original residence.
As a result many small villages are left in ruin and later become completely
deserted. What remain is the unsettled lands which go under cultivation
by relatively wealthy urban residents who own the tractors and other
crucial tools necessary for large scale and labor saving forms of agriculture.

The Informal Economy and Modern Technology

45

Section 12
ro~

The Informal Economy of Self-Reliance:

A Full Circle of Work and Food

ccording to Western model of social development, in most cases,

the modernization of economy means a greater level of occupational
differentiation and a more intensive volume of both horizontal and vertical
division of labor. The trend is often followed by a sharp decline in the
overall pattern of economic self-sufficiency of local communities with
respect to critical cultural as well as economic resources such as
information network, cooperation and coordination, expertise and skill,
safety and security of the flow of goods and services in and out of
household.
The proponents of modernization often argue that a higher level of
division of labor ultimately boosts productivity and the general well being
of society. Since access to material comfort and wealth is one of the most
important dimensions to human happiness, Adam Smith and his
contemporary followers see economic modernization as an essential factor
for achieving a humane and moral community.
While this may be true in certain cases, there are growing unhappiness
and discontent with both economy and society. The literature which
addresses these issues are immense trying to document the plight of

"""-

62

Corridor of Hope

modern industrial man and his alienation with his community and
inner disenchantment. Such criticism is abundant in almost all-competml
theoretical perspectives whether it is Marxism, Freudianism, or any
More specifically, the formalized and industrialized economy
the tendency to deprive people from full participation in the
processes and thus encourages widening the gulf between
gratification in life and material production. It is often said that the grow;ntl
dissatisfaction with civilization and industrialization is the reflection
growing spiritual impoverishment of the masses who find it impossib1~
to confer deep and profound meaning to their economic activities.
In the picture, despite some of the shortcomings, perhaps an alternative
economic practice is demonstrated where much of the daily needs
people are produced and created within the domain of household
tangible meaning. This is the lunchtime and people are sitting
their earthward table, equivalent to Western dinner table. The
includes several items that are all produced by the household members
or the village people. Watermelon, bread, eggs, cheese, yogurt, omelet
are the entire local product, without preservative, without non-degradable
plastic packages, totally fresh from the garden to the table. The member
of the family wear their own hand made sweater as well as the carpet
underneath them, keeping them warm in cold season and insulate them
from the occasional wet floor.
In addition the room is fortified by very thick wall for better insulation
accompanied by small windows to keep the heat longer in the room ...
Surprising, there is little wall decoration and no pictures of any sort. In
my judgement, lack of wall decoration in many hand-made houses in the
village community is not always the reflection of economic poverty, but
rather indicates the relative harmonious relationship of resident with the
their virgin environment. Abundance of decorative plants and flower
pictures in the western household may reflect an attempt to fill a gap in
the nostalgic feeling for the past where the communal culture was less
indistinguishable form the surrounding nature.
The man wearing glasses in white shirt is the guest of honor who has
made himself up to a successful developer in the capital of his country.
He has come to visit the old friends and his niece who is now the bride of
this family. He has traveled much of the world and most of his immediate
family is holding high-paying professional jobs outside of village
community.
Much of the discussion revolved around the well being of his niece
who just had a baby few months ago. Despite being a new mother and

The Informal Economy of Self-Reliance

63

being in pain of delivery for quite sometimes, her mother-in-law has

been forcing her to do extraneous chores around the house and village,
something that her uncle is openly resenting despite the extra-formality
of the occasion.
What is not shown in the picture, is the eastern wall inside which a
srnall TV is placed and is exposing all members of the household to both
goods and bad of the external world from which they are so insulated
from. With this exposure one might think the gap between the two worlds
rnust have been diminishing gradually yet surely as the almighty TV
brings the residents of most isolated communities to its orbit for influence.

..-

62

Corridor of Hope

modern industrial man and his alienation with his community and his
inner disenchantment. Such criticism is abundant in almost all-competing
theoretical perspectives whether it is Marxism, Freudianism, or any ism.
More specifically, the formalized and industrialized economy has
the tendency to deprive people from full participation in the production
processes and thus encourages widening the gulf between spiritual
gratification in life and material production. It is often said that the growing
dissatisfaction with civilization and industrialization is the reflection of
growing spiritual impoverishment of the masses who find it impossible
to confer deep and profound meaning to their economic activities.
In the picture, despite some of the shortcomings, perhaps an alternative
economic practice is demonstrated where much of the daily needs of
people are produced and created within the domain of household with
tangible meaning. This is the lunchtime and people are sitting around
their earthward table, equivalent to Western dinner table. The lunch
includes several items that are all produced by the household members
or the village people. Watermelon, bread, eggs, cheese, yogurt, omelet
are the entire local product, without preservative, without non-degradable
plastic packages, totally fresh from the garden to the table. The member
of the family wear their own hand made sweater as well as the carpet
underneath them, keeping them warm in cold season and insulate them
from the occasional wet floor.
In addition the room is fortified by very thick wall for better insulation
accompanied by small windows to keep the heat longer in the room.
Surprising, there is little wall decoration and no pictures of any sort. In
my judgement, lack of wall decoration in many hand-made houses in the
village community is not always the reflection of economic poverty, but
rather indicates the relative harmonious relationship of resident with the
their virgin environment. Abundance of decorative plants and flower
pictures in the western household may reflect an attempt to fill a gap in
the nostalgic feeling for the past where the communal culture was less
indistinguishable form the surrounding nature.
The man wearing glasses in white shirt is the guest of honor who has
made himself up to a successful developer in the capital of his country.
He has come to visit the old friends and his niece who is now the bride of
this family. He has traveled much of the world and most of his immediate
family is holding high-paying professional jobs outside of village
community.
Much of the discussion revolved around the well being of his niece
who just had a baby few months ago. Despite being a new mother and

The Informal Economy of Self-Reliance

63

being in pain of delivery for quite sometimes, her mother-in-law has

been forcing her to do extraneous chores around the house and village,
something that her uncle is openly resenting despite the extra-formality
of the occasion.
What is not shown in the picture, is the eastern wall inside which a
small TV is placed and is exposing all members of the household to both
goods and bad of the external world from which they are so insulated
from. With this exposure one might think the gap between the two worlds
must have been diminishing gradually yet surely as the almighty TV
brings the residents of most isolated communities to its orbit for influence.

68

Corridor of Hope

Section 14
f0G;1

Extra-Income and Household

Economy: The Informal Economy
of Home Gardening

n addition to reproductive and socialization role in the household, the

household can also make a significant contribution to production and
distribution of goods and services in the community. While a significant
portion of economic activities is directly consumed by family members
(often in cashless network of reciprocity such as cooking, cleaning,
education of children, emotional support, etc., which otherwise have to
be purchased from the economy outside of the family). The household
economy could link itself directly to unknown clients outside of family
for cash transaction.
This choice is often practiced during the economic downturn in both
developed and developing countries as a way to adapt to unemployment
and job insecurity. In the following, two scenes are photographed to
document the concrete working out of economy in the household and to
shed some light on some of the assumptions concerning the value of
household economy.
In the first two pictures, the "Brine Pickles" are produced and
processed in the "Brine Family" and are advertised for sale in the

71

Corridor of Hope

Extra-Income and Household Economy

neighborhood by two road signs. The first sign is installed in one of

busy roads to attract a large number of customers, and the second one
installed right in front of the house to help them find the
place. During the summer season, many tourists. visit the area for
natural beauty as well as for its fresh beaches, and families with an
on this market have added a greater attraction and flavor to such
By offering home-made pickles that are fresh, reliable, and
preservative, the tourists can not only take the product back home
souvenir, but also it gives them a sense of discovery and
social hour for a care free interaction with families such as The Brine.
It is important to keep in mind that the Brine family grow
cucumbers, the necessary raw materials for the pickles, in their
making the production a full circle, self-sufficient and local. Beside!
selling pickles, this family has other produce as well. For example,
their "small farm" in their backyard has a surplus of tomatoes
eggplants, they are put and displayed in their front yard for
consumption. Although a tiny sign next to tomatoes says that it is free,
small bucket is placed next to the vegetables and on the counter
volunteer cash compensation. One time, I picked three large and
tomatoes in excess of 3 pounds and dropped 50 cents in the bucket.
deal was totally self-regulated, and the Brine family relied solely on
customers' sense of justice for payment (I hope I did not disaoooinl
them). No one from the Brine Family was present when I was
the tomatoes; they left the pricing of the goods to be completely
by their "customers." It is indeed a rare economic reality where
sellers deliberately freeze their input into the pricing of goods and
to overcome the problem of surplus.
In the next picture, several cars are parked in front of a
house. On the windshield of each car, a sale sign is attached.
occasion I was able to see more than 5 cars displayed for sale;
literally transforming one's front yard into a commercial auto sale.
are numerous examples in which part of residential homes is put
for business activities, thus quietly violating the urban zoning and
commercial laws pertaining to auto-sales.
The extent to which a part of living quarter can be put aside
business is not always clear in the law, and not infrequently, the right
one's front yard privacy stands in opposition to business regulation. '
semi-public and semi-private condition of front yard has led to
formation of a spatial grey area in which various groups could

independent and contradictory interpretation and definition of the situation.

In instances where the private domain is grossly over-used by the owners,
complains from the neighborhood or excessive visibility and traffic could
put a halt on the free floating economy of the household, but in other
circumstance to draw the line is not as quite simple as one may think.
This is true particularly when one begins to project this reality into the
crowded streets in places like Bombay, Kabul, or Calcutta where private
and public space intermesh without due notice. They gradually become
undistinguishable from one another in most instances in the course of
time.

70

Corridor of Hope

Extra-Income and Household Economy

neighborhood by two road signs. The first sign is installed in one of the
busy roads to attract a large number of customers, and the second one is
installed right in front of the house to help them find the residential
place. During the summer season, many tourists. visit the area for its
natural beauty as well as for its fresh beaches, and families with an eye
on this market have added a greater attraction and flavor to such places.
By offering home-made pickles that are fresh, reliable, and without
preservative, the tourists can not only take the product back home as
souvenir, but also it gives them a sense of discovery and unpolluted
social hour for a care free interaction with families such as The Brine.
It is important to keep in mind that the Brine family grow the
cucumbers, the necessary raw materials for the pickles, in their backyard
making the production a full circle, self-sufficient and local. Besides
selling pickles, this family has other produce as well. For example, when
their "small farm" in their backyard has a surplus of tomatoes and
eggplants, they are put and displayed in their front yard for public
consumption. Although a tiny sign next to tomatoes says that it is free, a
small bucket is placed next to the vegetables and on the counter for
volunteer cash compensation. One time, I picked three large and juicy
tomatoes in excess of 3 pounds and dropped 50 cents in the bucket. The
deal was totally self-regulated, and the Brine family relied solely on the
customers' sense of justice for payment (I hope I did not disappoint
them). No one from the Brine Family was present when I was "buying"
the tomatoes; they left the pricing of the goods to be completely determined
by their "customers." It is indeed a rare economic reality where the
sellers deliberately freeze their input into the pricing of goods and services
to overcome the problem of surplus.

In the next picture, several cars are parked in front of a residential

house. On the windshield of each car, a sale sign is attached. In an
occasion I was able to see more than 5 cars displayed for sale; therefore,
literally transforming one's front yard into a commercial auto sale. There
are numerous examples in which part of residential homes is put aside
for business activities, thus quietly violating the urban zoning and the
commercial laws pertaining to auto-sales.
The extent to which a part of living quarter can be put aside for
business is not always clear in the law, and not infrequently, the right to
one's front yard privacy stands in opposition to business regulation. This
semi-public and semi-private condition of front yard has led to the
formation of a spatial grey area in which various groups could claim

independent and contradictory interpretation and definition of the situation.

In instances where the private domain is grossly over-used by the owners,
complains from the neighborhood or excessive visibility and traffic could
put a halt on the free floating economy of the household, but in other
circumstance to draw the line is not as quite simple as one may think.
This is true particularly when one begins to project this reality into the
crowded streets in places like Bombay, Kabul, or Calcutta where private
and public space intermesh without due notice. They gradually become
undistinguishable from one another in most instances in the course of
time.

70

71

80

Corridor of Hope

Several sociological remarks can be made on this practice: 1. Despite

their significance, they are often insecure in the eye of the state as they
rely on illegal practices (e.g., use of public electricity without paying the
expenses (substandard and often dangerous working conditions); 2. Due
to self-employment nature of work, work related injuries such as blindness
and skin burning could completely paralyze the artisans without any
back up support for their families.
The state could easily step in and help these artisans in many ways to
promote farming economy and to increase rural retention. Examples
would be providing free electricity, limited insurance, in return for
technical information on activities and the difficulties they encounter in
the their business. These changes can be made without damaging the
cultural of fabric of villages, as artisanship has been always an integral
part of rural economies throughout all agrarian economies.

Section 17
f,G)~

Self-Created Employment by
the Unemployed: Informal
Economy and Job Creation
nlicensed street business is probably the most visible aspects of
urban life in the developing countries. The shape, form, conditions
of work, labor contract and the state's reaction to the legal side of activity
are extremely diverse making its classification a rather difficult task.
In this picture, a man in his mid-twenty, somewhat polished and
educated is selling black berries to the public in one of the most popular
places for hiking and recreational activities. His business is on the sidewalk
and is paying some fee to the local shoppers for his trade. In addition the
fee gives some degree of legality saving the traders from the pain of
spontaneous disappearance at the time of crackdown on the city hawkers
by the city law enforcement agencies.
The means of production consists of few small blue cups, black berries,
two traces, a red bucket, and two huge saucers like berry containers. The
berries are often picked from the local berry farms either by the person
in trade or by the teenage during the summer when the schools are closed.
What makes the berry business interesting and relatively profitable
is the tradition surrounding the berry tree in the Middle East regions.

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For its endurance and vitality, berry tree enjoys a status of sacredness
and is planted near public places such as mosque, church, synagogue,
temple, or parks and public free of charge uses its fruit. Homeless, beggars,
and the poor often find the tree berry as the last resort to hunger during
long days in summer and younger children are often found busy climbing
up and down the berry tree with considerable joy and active socialization.
Thus, many street vendors who sell berries in fact collect them off
trees that are absolutely free and available to public without anyone ever
claiming ownership to them. With low cost collection of berries anybody
can make some money if they decide to pull up their sleeves.

Section 18
BJ)Q1

The Informal Economy of

Street Entertainment: People
See the Show out in Open

I
"'1
I!

~1
1'/,
''~

he street economy is not limited to selling and buying of material

goods, but it could very well include non-material services and
products as well. Street music, Folklore Theater, and street acrobatic
performances are just few examples to name. The spontaneity and
flexibility of theatrical products coupled with the alluring atmosphere of
free space without roof (unlike cathedral building with confining
parameters with respect to various social, economic, and cultural
characteristics of audience) and rich social mosaic in such informal
economy can attract many customers from variety of background. Poor
or rich, black or white, and sophisticated or naive audience, immigrants
or natives can all find their own spot in this rich and diversified social
matrix. In addition, the street entertainment works as magnet for business
boosting retail sale of small street vendors scattered in the area. All of
these happenings occur not just in a back ward city some where in Asia
or Africa, but in prominent places throughout Europe and North America
such as Quincy Market in America, Dam in Amsterdam, Venice Beach
in California, and great spots all over Quebec in Canada.

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Corridor of Hope

In the first three pictures, young talented musicians from Latin

American Honduras are giving their best to the enthusiastic audience in
Boston giving them a sense of scope from their over-regulated urban
life-style right in their own urban backyard without a journey.
The music band is composed of three men who wear casual uniform
of purple shirt, blue genes, white socks, and brown shoes. His black hat
distinguishes the bandleaders with colorful stripes from two other
performers. They are surrounded by their casual audience most of whom
are eating ice cream while listening to the well conceived drum beat
"sizzled" by a charming Latin American flute. Small souvenirs from
Honduras could be bought right here in Boston as they are displayed for
sale in the show.
The interesting part that is not obvious in these pictures is the director
who has possibly subcontracted these artists from Honduras by providing
them the required electronic devices and the necessary bureaucratic
performance permission from the local authorities. Once the show begins
moving, a small circle of audience works as magnate for attracting a
bigger and greater audience from the nearby places. It is not too uncommon
to see several street entertainment shows, each with its own unique
program, perform their art for living simultaneously in the close by
areas; therefore attracting and losing audience from one circle to the
other.
However, whatever they do, the informal economy of street entertainment added color and flavor as well as valorizing other type of
economic activities that otherwise could remain cold and boring without
the necessary effervescence to stimulate life in urban areas.

The Informal Economy of Street Entertainment

85

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Corridor of Hope

Section 29
ro~

Converting the Public Space into

Informal Street Business

he relation between informal economy and spatial arrangements of

the city with respect to private property rights, availability of public
space, and the interaction of people with location arrangement of business
have significant impact on the acceptability of the informal economy
both by the city officials and the customers. Such arrangements allow the
informal economy, under specific conditions, to continue functioning
without being terminated by the city official, despite some obvious
violation of municipal codes.
In this picture, this informal newspaper shop owner establishes his
business creatively between a busy street and pedestrian side walks. A
flat metal platform is used as foundation for the shop to be placed on and
it helps the pedestrian cross the brook at night when the shop is closed.
This "post-modernist" innovation in which two spatially distinct entities
(private versus public) are juxtaposed and imposed upon one another to
allow the emergence of a neutral zone in urban environment (e.g.,
undefined space) to be redefined for commercial use by the informal
workers.

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Corridor of Hope

With open door policy coupled with access to large anonymous

customers who walk through the sidewalk make this business quite
successful. People flip through the displayed publications, read them as
they relax between their walk and may eventually buy what they are
interested in. On the other hand, the drivers may find it convenient to
stop on the other side of shop, make a quick purchase and continue
driving. This creatively generated space permits the shop owners to have
access to the better of the two worlds. Perhaps the only drawback would
be the traffic slow down that has resulted from the drivers' customers
waiting to get their newspaper while in car.
With more neutral zones popping up in the city without check and
balance, it is expected that urban congestion could shoot to the roof,
causing general slow down in healthy businesses throughout the city.

Section 30
f0~

Modernization of Street
Informal Economy
The street informal economy does not have to be always chaotic or the
~ representation of series of disorganized activities of poor rural
migrants who cause traffic jam and urban congestion. Such stereotypical
view of the world yields only so little values toward an accurate portrayal
of the real world. Flexibility, beauty, innovation, and accommodation to
the needs of city dwellers are quite present in such activities. So much so
that the highly industrial countries may want to emulate the image of
informal economy into the standard work place to boost productivity,
speed, and customers' satisfaction.
Now hawkers and gypsy salesmen appear in the uniform to sell fresh
lemonade to their moving customers in different parts of town right from
their truck. Mobile business has not always been the invention of informal
workers in street of the third world. Correct identification, close adherence
to tax law, and more importantly to be able to pay for the expenses for
renting or buying the place. With growing office space left vacant which
highlights the problem and risk involves to get stuck with an unprofitable
business with little access to real demand and customers. However, with
ability to move around the city, one can target the most volatile district
of the town at any time and at any place on these four wheels.