Street Vendors In The City: Negotiating The Resistance Beyond The Regulated Space

With the coming of 2010 World Expo in Shanghai, almost all the streets and local shops have been unclenched and polished for the city's beautification. During the whole process, the conflicts between street vendors and city management officers were worsened and have been gradually unconsciously considered as everyday's show during which vendors negotiating against being confiscated for the purpose of street vending. In the thesis, I chose the street vendors near E. University as a case and conducted urban anthropology fieldwork lasting almost a year. On one hand, I regarded street vendors as kind of "street character" exploring the invisible street structure via describing the daily activities among vendors, local shops and other street characters (such as thieves and homeless). On the other hand, I paid attention to the bizarre contact respectively from the perspectives of vendors, passers-by and city management officers. Based on the above, I finally discussed the conception of social order and whether the possibilities of informal workers to negotiate resistance space under the urban development exist and how to employ the invisible resources.