Bibliograph

Higglers in Kingston, women's informal work in Jamaica, Winnifred Brown-Glaude

Type

Label

Higglers in Kingston, women's informal work in Jamaica, Winnifred Brown-Glaude

Language

eng

Index

no index present

Literary Form

non fiction

Main title

Higglers in Kingston

Medium

electronic resource

Nature of contents

dictionaries

Responsibility statement

Winnifred Brown-Glaude

Sub title

women's informal work in Jamaica

Summary

Making a living in the Caribbean requires resourcefulness and even a willingness to circumvent the law. Women of color in Jamaica encounter bureaucratic mazes, neighborhood territoriality, and ingrained racial and cultural prejudices. For them, it requires nothing less than a herculean effort to realize their entrepreneurial dreams. In Higglers in Kingston, Winnifred Brown-Glaude puts the reader on the ground in frenetic urban Kingston, the capital and largest city in Jamaica. She explores the lives of informal market laborers, called "higglers," across the city as they navigate a corrupt and inaccessible "official" Jamaican economy. But rather than focus merely on the present-day situation, she contextualizes how Jamaica arrived at this point, delving deep into the island's history as a former colony, a home to slaves and masters alike, and an eventual nation of competing and conflicted racial sectors. Higglers in Kingston weaves together contemporary ethnography, economic history, and sociology of race to address a broad audience of readers on a crucial economic and cultural center

Target audience

adult

Classification