Paper short abstract:

This paper, by focusing on how noncitizens claim rights to the city, while circumventing uncertainty, calls for an interrogation on ideas of belonging to a city.

Paper long abstract:

Drawing on ethnographic data, the paper illustrates how street vendors, day labourers, unlicensed motorists assert their presence in Los Angeles, California in the context of recession and anti-immigrant legislations and city ordinances. This paper, by focusing on how noncitizens claim rights to the city, while circumventing uncertainty, calls for an interrogation on ideas of belonging to a city. Furthermore, the paper by examining the presence of informal economies also questions the distinctions between the 'formal' and the 'informal' city. More specifically, the paper shows how undocumented women street vendors collectively negotiate with restaurant managers, recreation park staff, and the police and manage to sell prepared traditional foods in the streets of Los Angeles. Day labourers continue to gather on street corners and in parking structures even when prospects of day work increasingly dims. The paper illustrates how in the absence of a formal support structure in the city, they collectively support each other and form friendships and informal networks which help them tide over uncertain moments. Finally, the paper illustrates how undocumented immigrants who are unlicensed assert their rights to mobility in Los Angeles -even though the state of California does not issue drivers' licenses to noncitizens. They challenge city ordinances which allow imposition of heavy penalties for driving without licenses. There have been some scholars who have recognized the rights of undocumented immigrants but less work has been done on the topic of belonging, rights, and citizenship in cities.