POST-EVENT

The visiting researcher at the Center for Metropolitan Studies, Jacinto Cuvi (PhD candidate, Department of Sociology, University of Texas at Austin) led a seminar on street vendors in the City of São Paulo, titled, “The Game in the Street: Study of The World Cup’s Unequal Impact on Ambulante Commerce in São Paulo.”

Abstract: The theme of the seminar is to understand and assess the impact of the World Cup on street vending in São Paulo. Away from the opposition between the structural perspective, which underscores the exclusion or exploitation of informal vendors, and a viewpoint that considers vendors as individual entrepreneurs, this paper attempts to determine who won and who lost in street vending. Through interviews, surveys, and ethnographic observation, we attempt to capture the experiences and strategies of different street vending groups. Political structures reflected in the access to information and the location of vending carts mediated the impact of the World Cup on authorized street vendors, while spatialized repression favored camelos more willing to take risks and with a capacity for coordination. Other factors, including the protests, also affected the results.