Paper short abstract:

This paper departs from an ethnographic account of the women’s daily experiences as street vendors, and looks at the ways that urban transformations affect their lives, as well as at their strategies to keep working in the same activity and places.

Paper long abstract:

In Praia, capital city of Cape Verde, the city administration is carrying new urban policies that are transforming the whole city, but specially the central area. These transformations aim to rebuild urban landscape to attract visitors, and with it, economic growth. These policies are promoting a significant change in both landscape and social life of the urban life. One of these changes affects traditional activities of female street vendors in the area. These women have been intimidated, chased, and removed by a special police force, created with the purpose of keeping the city's space "ordered". This paper departs from an ethnographic account of the women's daily experiences, and looks at the ways that these transformations affect these women's lives, as well as at their strategies to keep working in the same activity and places.