Selling hope on credit

For the urban poor in Latin America, informality is part and parcel of life. Many live in informal housing and work in the informal sector and because of the embeddedness of informal structures and practices in the fabric of the city, ambiguities arise among low-income families round what constitutes the formal and informal.

In a new publication, Marie Kolling portrays women navigating various dimensions of informality in the city of Salvador, Brazil, and the gendered circumstances and vulnerabilities of making a living and maintaining a home in peripheral neighbourhoods in the city.

Specifically, the paper examines the implications of debt on women’s lives and life choices in the informal city. Their encounters with formal sector entities often left them disillusioned and as obstacles to be overcome rather than representing an aspirational practice. And while their engagement in informal practices may afford resilience, they may simultaneously undermine women’s opportunities and future aspirations.

The paper demonstrates that whereas many informal practices, including credit practices, enable life to continue by providing a meagre income and the opportunity to avoid expenses such as rent and utility bills. Yet these same practices keep women on the margins of the city and the formal economy. Marginality engenders vulnerability, exacerbated during periods of turbulence as seen in the current context of Brazil’s economic downturn and struggle to manage the Covid-19 pandemic.

The paper contributes to debates on urban informality in Latin America by demonstrating the ambiguities among low-income families around what constitutes the formal and informal in the arenas of housing, lottery betting and labour and by highlighting state attempts and failures to reduce informality.