The Politics of Street Food

Contested Governance and Vulnerabilities in Dhaka's Field of Street Vending

Benjamin Etzold

• Publisher: Franz Steiner Verlag GmbH
• Year: 2014
• eBook ISBN: 9783515106221
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Physical Sciences
• Subtopic: Geography
• Index: Geography

In Bangladesh, the sale of food in public space is often contested: Street food is needed, but not wanted. 100,000 street vendors sell dishes, snacks, fruits, and beverages in the megacity of Dhaka. Street food is important for urban food security as mobile labourers and the poor rely on cheap, readily available and nutritious food. The authorities argue that encroachments of streets and footpaths are illegal and disorderly, and that street food is unhygienic. They therefore evict the vendors regularly. But the hawkers are somewhat protected through the informal rules of the street. While some of them are highly vulnerable to poverty and police raids, most navigate well through these contested governance regimes and can successfully sustain their livelihoods.

In this e-book, different conceptual perspectives are integrated on the basis of Bourdieu's Theory of Practice. It provides fresh insights into the role of street food in urban food system and contributes to a deeper understanding of the vulnerabilities of the urban poor, the informal governance of public space, and the dominant discourses on street food. From a relational and critical perspective it captures "the politics of street food" and sketches innovative solutions towards fair street food governance.

Table of contents

• CONTENTS
• LIST OF TABLES
• LIST OF FIGURES
• LIST OF MAPS
• LIST OF BOXES
• LIST OF CASE STUDIES
• ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
• SUMMARY
• ZUSAMMENFASSUNG
• 1 INTRODUCTION
• 2 WITH BOURDIEU TOWARDS A RELATIONAL, CRITICAL, AND REFLEXIVE SOCIAL GEOGRAPHY
• 3 CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK: STREET FOOD GOVERNANCE
• 4 RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODOLOGY
• 5 THE SOCIAL FIELD OF STREET FOOD IN DHAKA
• 6 STREET FOOD VENDING AND URBAN FOOD SECURITY
• 7 INSIDE THE FIELD: STYLES OF VENDING, SOCIAL POSITIONS AND VULNERABILITY
• 8 CONTESTED STREET FOOD GOVERNANCE: STREET POLITICS AND EVICTIONS
• 9 TOWARDS FAIR STREET FOOD GOVERNANCE
• REFERENCES
• ANNEX