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  • Cities Sidewalk

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    82 vues8 pages

    Cities Sidewalk

    Transféré par

    api-297051112

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    Sidewalk 53 for RESEARCH unit ging) employed peice SIDEWALK ical elation. MITCHELL DDNEIER aely isomorphic \ YY of the docu- amatic and dis- rt Social research is concerned with the definition and assessment of social ould be elicited henomen, Mi 1 phenomena in day-to-day inter taken fr rs fay social phen y-to-day interaction are ta frequency with ranted, such as riding on a city bus, the daily routine inside a Beauty Salon — tobe. seted precisely Lr Side these diverse soil worlds andi al ores are at Work in eenting socal fe. Tis selon rom Michel! Danser CARES Cag | 12.0041 to Professor acclaimed ethnography, Sidewalk (199), takes us inside the social world of rs street vendors in New York ity. Dune, Distinguished Professor of Soc Oy > | ‘Bkiortheconsibes ology at The Graduate Center ofthe City University of New York, conveys ame of the variables ‘well the character and complexity of urban life. In this excerpt, Duneier dis- 7 Sesiggee during the cusses his research questions and the research process he utilized to study © Philips, ion of the urban street vending, vueatteere thanks to ‘tour prison con- teof imprisonment. ‘akim Hasan is a boo} and street intellectual at the busy Hibssso ot ihren Cant Rrra te arena the Americas—aka Sixth Avenue. He isa sturdy and stocky five-foot- 0. The Authoritarian seven African American, forty-two years old. In the winter, he wears ‘Timberland boots, jeans, a hooded sweatshirt, a down vest, and a Banana Republic baseball cap. One Thursday in February 1996, an African American man in his mid- thirties came up to Hakim’s table and asked for a copy of Alice Walker's book The Same River Twice, about her experiences in turning her novel The Color Purple into a movie. Hakim was all sold out, but said he would get some more in stock soon. “When you get some, you let me know,” said the man, who worked de- livering groceries. “Til et you know.” “Because, you see, not only that,” said the man, “I've got a friend that loves to read.” “Male or female?” asked Hakim. “Female. She's like this: when she gets a book in her hand, in another hour it’s finished. In other words—like, with me, I'll read maybe . .. five chapters, then I'll put it down ‘cause I gotta do something, then maybe I'll ‘come back to it. But with her, she gets into it and goes through the whole 4k Academic Press Alndustral Testing @ che Danks, tad om Sa. Copy © 198 by tcl Dante 54° Mitchell Duneier book like that. Boom, And she puts it on the shelf and it’s just like brand-new. Like, when it's her birthday or what-have-you, I buy her books because that's one of the things that she likes. I Bought the book Wailing to Exhale in paperback, right? Listen to this: when I approached her with the book, the movie was coming out and she said, “You late! I been read that book!” Hakim laughed. “I think she had a point.” “I said, ‘Better late than never.’ I wish I read that book before I seen the movie. Now, you can tell me this, Hakim: i it the same thing in the paper. back as the hardcover?” “Yeah, it’s just different print.” ‘Just different print? Okay. Well, when you get the other book by Alice Walker, you let me know. The man made a motion to leave, but then he continued talking “Because, you see, what happens is that there are a lot of females authors that are coming out that are making their voices heard, More so than ever black. Even Alice Walker says something about this. It goes deep, man.” “Yeah, I'm gonna read that book by Alice Walker,” said Hakim. “I'm gonna read it today.” Oh, you're gonna read it today?” the man asked, laughing “1 just finished two books over the weekend. I read at least one book a week,” said Hakim. “I try to tell my son that,” said the deliveryman. “If you read one book a ‘week, man, you don’t know how much knowledge you can get.” ,,__ Hakim doesn’t just name titles. He knows the contents. have observed th of his erudition impress scholars, and have seen him sat patience Witt: wreck peupie whermre stig Eligg with basic 2 dont know sugh about books. He might sit for hours without having a single customer step up to his table; other times the table becomes a ial center where men For two years, Tlived around the comer from where Hakim sels up. Al- most every day, whenever I had time to amble about on the block, I'd visit and listen to the conversations taking place at his table. At first, Hakim sold what he called “black books,” works exclusively by or about blacks. In later years, he became romantically involved with » Filipina book vendor named Alice, who carried used paperback classics and New York Times bestsellers, and they merged their vending tables, Now they are on their own again, working side by side. Alice is the onl woman w) S outside on Sixth Avenue every day, ait she Ras pat cally raised her daughters and Branddaughters there. Whereas Alice tends fo be “about business,” local residents, workers, and visitors come to Hakim to discuss topics of all kinds, from burning issues of the day to age. old questions. Not long after we met, | asked Hakim how he saw his role. “I'ma public character,” he told me. & If and it’s just like ou, | buy her books, tthe book Waiting to ached her with the ate! I been read that dok before I seen the 2 thing in the paper. other book by Alice ued talking. a lot of females heard. More so than lt goes deep, man.” "said Hakim. “I’m ughing. at least one book a uts. Ihave observed and have seen him niggling with basic for hours without the table becomes a t Hakim sets up. Al- the block, I'd visit works exclusively ly involved with a daperback classics it vending tables. Alice is the only ind she has practi- rereas Alice tends visitors come to of the day to age- @u Sidewalk 55 “A what?” Lasked “Have you ever read Jane Jacobs’ The Death and Life of Great American Cities?" he asked. "You'll find it in there.” {considered myself quite familiar with the book, a classic study of mod- Srnerean le published in 1961, and grounded inthe author's observations ty of her own neighborhood, Greenwich Village. But I didn’t recall the discus. S 4 sion of public characters, Nor did I realize that Hakim’ insight would figure NS z ina central way in the manner in which I would come to see the sidewalk life g Of this neighborhood. When I got home, I looked it up: The social structure of sidewalk life hangs partly on what can be called self-appointed public characters. A public characteris anyone who is in frequent contact Wi Circle of people and who is sufficiently interested to make himself a public character. A public character need i have no special talents or wisdom to fulfill his function—although he often does, He just needs to be present, and there needs to be enough of his counterparts, His main qualification is that he is public, that he talks {0 lots of different people. In this way, news travels that is of sidewalk interest! Jacobs had modeled her idea of the. ‘Public character after the local. shop- Keepers with whom she and her Greenwich Village neighbors would lesec their spare keys. These figures could be counted onto let her know if her chs dren were getting out of hand onthe street, or to cll the police ifa strange. 2 looking person was hanging around for too long: “Storekeepers and other why . 7 ppeeaeaa : Incobs explained hey hte Soe ee ‘modeled the public character after persons like herself, who distributed Petitions on local political issues to neighborhood stores, spreading local Few in th pineal Although the idea is meaningful to anyone who has lived in an urban neighborhood where people do their errands on foot, Jacobs did not define J, her concept except to: say, “/ iblic character is anyone who is... st intrested to make heels bls carscte” Toes IO het opening beevaton tat REGAN havea ite lic characters. What Jacobs means is that ‘the social context of the sidewalk is public patiemed ina particular way because of theproance he nna ee his or her actions have the effect of making street life safer, stabler, and more predictable. As she goes on to explain, this occurs because the public character o has “eyes upon the street.” f Following Jacobs, urban theorists have emphasized what city dwellers in Pedestrian areas like Greenwich Village have always know: sidewalk life is NV oi et Inlike yy most places in the United States, where people do tei errant near the 23 (a-9 people of Greenwich Village do many, it not most oftheir errands brain, 2” A Ing. The neighborhood's sidewalk lite matters deeply te sector Rue pr wey 2, enced. senate fer 56 Mitchell Duneier hpi ibaa eS camRIEETE sith a erent genca sreet support when te chips are eit down.”? The Village’s “eyes upon the street,” in Jacobs’ famous dictum, in- encot dicated that residents and strangers were safe and consequently produced wort! safety in fact. 2 Greenwich Village looked very different forty years ago, when Jane Jacobs of sox was writing her classic book. Much of the architecture emains, and many pure people still live the way Jacobs’ descriptions svpsesGuae is another, affror wore marginal jon on these stree! ick men who make prehe Ir Mage sidewalks The prosenet of such people today mean sain Pedestrians handle their soca? boundaries in situ, whereas, in the past, racial What regation and well-policed skid-row areas kept the marginal at bay. thep Tn this [excerpt], I will offer a framework for understanding the changes as “it that have taken place on the sidewalk over the past four decades Jnaskinge © them iohy the sidewalk life bas changed in this affluent neighborhood Lpravide ec Wie sontestand paitotdepartuce for my research} has changed because weak ‘concentration of poverty in high poverty zones has produced social prob- on ems of a magnitude that cannot be contained by even the most extreme leadii forms of social control and exclusion. Many people living and/or working on Sixth Avenue come from such neighborhoods. Some were among the first jeneration of crack users, and so were affected by the war on those who use place ‘drug and the failure of prisons to help them prepare for life after released. ganiz sme, under new workfare rules, have lost their benefits when they refused bring show up to work as “the Mayor's slave.” 1 In asking dow the sidewalk life works todax.[-besin blanking at te Lia pivesolsbe peor Guuinly back men she wockand/arleon the seas pees [oF an upper-middle-class neighborhood. Unlike Hakim, who has an apart ofpe ‘ment in New Jersey, magazine vendors like Ishmael Walker are without a their home; the police throw their merchandise, vending tables, clothes, and fam- vend ily photos in the back of a garbage truck when they leave the block to relieve + their themselves. Mudtick Hayes and Joe Garbage "lay on the ground uo conte (merchandise retrieved from the trash ith 1 theor Johnson sits in his wheelchair by the door of the automated teller machine Qs! and panhandles. ‘contr How do these persons live in a moral order? How do they have the in~ ry h sgenuity to do so in the face of exclusion and stigmatization on the basis of city b ‘evar clas? How does the way they do so alront the sensible ofthe xp Cac working and middle classes? How do their acts intersect with a city’s mech some anisms to regulate its public spaces? are b The people making lives on Sixth Avenue depend on one another for whic! social support. The group life upon which their survival is contingent is cru- senta cial to those who do not rely on religious institutions or social service agen- neigt cies. For some of these people, the informal economic life is a substitute for tensi 4 @ 9 Q's, hyprhes i 5 § 3 lam, by pl © has rs 33 sidewalks must & illegal ways of supporting excessive drug use. For others, informal modes of 3 limits on inter- selt-help enable them to do things most citizens seek to achieve by working: ding up to “an en the chips are ous dictum, in- 3 ektcemigene se ing mon dant io acheweby wring G4 Gites cconamy provides a ou wher thy case menor ard S 8 : § encourage one another to strive to live in accordance with standards of moral oO ently produced worth. fro Le) Yotshe stories of these sidewalks cannot ultim, Ms x ‘rorfiance, ce the ten Jane Jacobs OF society. The social order these relationships carve out of what seems to be sins, and many Pepe chaos, powertul as its effects are, still cannot control many acts that g vere is another, afffORt the sensibilities of local residents and passersby ‘ econ ‘ho make their D day means that 2 the pest racial F? How can we understand s alatbay. sya esd many prope oregano egaysinsuchacs ng the changes as “indecent”? How do the quantity and quality of their “indecency” make ades. In asking them different from conventional passersby? ood, I provide ‘One of the greatest strengths of firsthand observation is also its greatest seq sh ranged because Weakness. Through a careful involvement people's Tives, we can get a fix heed zed social prob- on how their world works and how they see it. But the most extreme leading if they distract us from the orc i Observe vd ggp working @- first al, and political Tactors contribute to make these blocks a habitat—a WMA, these who use place where poor people can weave together complementary elements toor. TE*AQNA. zafter released. janize themselves for subsistence? And how do such forces contribute to m they refused bringing these men to the sidewalk in the first place? Cig ou0 Took at all these aspects of sidewalk life in a setting where government scien. looking at the trenchment on welfare is keenly felt, as is the approbation of influential ehbver ithe sidewalks business groups. When government does assume responsibility in the lives has an apart- of people like these, it attempts to sate them from the streets or to shape thes, and fam- vending or throwing vendors’ belongings in the back of garbage trucks—are dock to relieve the intended and unintended results of what has become the most igh on the ground contemporary idea about deviance and criminality: thef e wages, Keith theory, which holds that minor signs of disorder lead to sefious crime. What teller machine 1 ConsequeNCES OT Ths theory, Tis assumpUOns, a al social controls to which it has led? yy have the in- In trying to understand the sidewalk life, I refer to an area of about ghia. on the basis of doublocks, Here we can see the confluence of many forces: some global (dein- ibilities of the dustrialization), some national (stratification of race and class and gender), acity’s mech- QA __some_ocal (restrictive and punitive policies toward street vendors). Here, also, IHongife"® blocks which can be studied in light of Jane Jacobs’ earlier account and ve another for hich contain the kinds of social problems that have become iconic in repre- tingent is cru- sentations of the city’s “quality of life” crisis. My visits to some other New York service agen- ighborhoods® and some other American cities suggest that they, too, have substitute for ag €0ble Jenson surounding inequalities anteatul Sifeees ee occas svbyjech . 3 38 Mitchell Duneier areas, Across the country liberals have voted to elect moderate, “law and S01 order” mayors, some of them Republican. Whereas disorderly-conduct YS had sh statutes were once enough, anti-panhandling statutes have been passed in. 3 proven Seattle, Atlanta, Cincinnati, Dallas, Washington, D.C,, San Francisco, Santa police Barbara, Long Beach, Philadelphia, New Haven, Raleigh, and Baltimore. 2 than tv Yet New York City and Greenwich Village are unique in a multitude of itly ask ways, | certainly cannot hope to account for life in the majority of places, in cott Which have not seen severe sidewalk tensions in dense pedestrian districts; hours. even many places that have seen such tensions are different from Greenwich pes lage Nor can I hope to show how the sidewalk works in low-income Throut neighborhoods where the majority of tense sidewalk interactions occur rasta K mong members of the same clas or racial group. In the end, I must leave it Af toreaders to test my observations against their own, and hope thatthe con- an Afr cepts Ihave developed to make sense ofthis neighborhood will prove useful the in in other venues the thit to kno I gained ents 3 hen I became a browser and customer at meto Hakim’sablein 1992. Through my relalonship with him, I came to know oth- fluence ersin the area, He introduced me to unhoused and formerly unhoused people ‘Afi who scavenge and sell on the street, as well as other vendors who compete events ith him for sidewalk space and access to customers. These relations then led et to panhandlers, some of whom also sometimes scavenge and vend. @ v ‘contacts and introductions took place across at ms various spheres. Eventually, 1 worked as a general assistant—watching table. dors’ merchandise while they went on errands, buying up merchandise tothe: ed in their absence, assisting on scavenging missions through trash and to talk ing bins, and “going for coffee.” Then I worked full-time as a magazine Since ¢ ndor and scavenger during the summer of 1996, again for three days a lating Areek during the summer of 1997 and during part of the fall of 1997.1 also couldn made daily visits to the blocks during the summer of 1998, often for hours at tniseion a time, and worked full-time as a vendor for two weeks in March 1999, when knowle my research came to an end. consen “Although in race, class, and status 1 am very different from the men 1 Yolvin, write about, | was myself eventually treated by them as a fixture of the withou blocks, occasionally referred to asa “scholar” ot “professor,” which is my oc- that at cupation, My designation was Mitch. This seemed to have a variety of chang a ing meanings, including a naive white man who could himself be exploited } need tc for “loans” of small change and dollar bills a Jew who was going to make a appear lot of money off the stories of people working the streets; a white writer who said. ( was trying to “state the truth about what was going on.” When t My continual presence as a vendor provided me with opportunities to are not observe life among the people working and/or living on the sidewalk, in- when a cluding thee interactions with passersby. This enabled me to di widely clusions about what happens on the sidew, “ embod Seiessed rater than denne themoomnteruivs, Often Isimply asked unders Guestions while participating and observing the inc : Sidewatk 59 ect moderate, “law and, . Sometimes, when | wanted to understand how the local political system, vas disorderly-conduct had shaped these blocks, I did my intervig tes have been passed in i A San Francisco, Santa |, roree officers, pedestrians, local residents, and the like, I carried outmore igh, and Baltimore on Ferre ccpcicinanatice, | esha Sa or a sh eden oe coer ase pedlestrian districts hours. | paid the interviews fay Boe alk interactions. occur a quotation has ben cull the endl, I must leave it Alter I had been observing on the block fc and hope that the con- ‘hood will prove useful the offices of Business Im. provement Distrio ci uential attorneys. Talso questioned MM ur yeard, Ovie Carter, | ai Attcan. American photojournalist who has becr=akay, pawns the inner city for three decades, agreed to take photogeophe eat a the things was writing about. He visited the blocks yesroond an eee le know the people in the book intimately. Ovie's photogeerhe herent me to see things that I had not noticed, se thas fluenced by his : After theee years passed, I believed I had a strong sense of the kinds of events and conversations that were typical on the Blocks Ir the gon ‘rs ofthis research, my field methods evolved to the point ene lens use Was mad ofa tape recorder The tape recorder avon ten a, | Ce "y, Gays on the block UStaTTy REPt in a milk erate under my vending table, People working and/or living on the eilenaine ne | roe machine and, after being exposed to it over a periator eae | ‘ns through trash and t determined to be like the talk I had heard bao Ietimeas a magazine nce the machine was taping on a public street T hoped et Pees ee ain for thre days a 4 NSCS lating any expectation of privacy if it picked up the words of poopie who couldn't efficiently be informed that it was on. I have sinee mecheag per: owser and customer at m, Ieame to know oth. verly unhoused people vendors who compete De@BPations tien tea Mend vend, ions took place across | assistant—watching ying up merchandise work has now been in- ¥%8, often for hours at | Frome te, {uote almost all the people who were taped without they nMarcne¥,ven TX navies When names Se ne PUP Wh real ones, and I do s0 with fe cant In those few cases when this isnot possible (stich as incidents ye rent from the men | Covert police tficers whose speech was recorded by my mitenhate

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