Examining street vending as a global, urban, and informalized practice found both in the Global North and Global South, this volume presents contributions from international scholars working in cities as diverse as Berlin, Dhaka, New York City, Los Angeles, Calcutta, Rio de Janeiro, and Mexico City. The aim of this global approach is to repudiate the assumption that street vending is usually carried out in the Southern hemisphere and to reveal how it also represents an essential—and constantly growing—economic practice in urban centers of the Global North. Although street vending activities vary due to local specificities, this anthology illustrates how these urban practices can also reveal global ties and developments.

Kristina Graaff is Assistant Professor of American Studies at Humboldt University of Berlin, Germany.

Noa Ha is Researcher at the Center for Metropolitan Studies, Technical University of Berlin.

“The relevance and uniqueness of Graff and Ha’s edited volume makes it a must read for anyone interested in the complex intersections of social dimensions and phenomena in the study of cities from a global perspective.” • Urbanities. Journal of Urban Ethnography

“Street Vending in the Neoliberal City does a good job of conveying the diversity of street vending forms, while also emphasizing their many common qualities and obstacles.  One of the most original features of the collection is its emphasis on the United States, whereas ethnographies of street vending often focus on the ‘Third World.’… Street vending may be marginalized by many officials and elites, but it is hardly marginal, and no analysis of modern economics and capitalism would be complete without considering it.” • Anthropology Review Database

“Overall, this is an excellent book. The collection of essays the editors have brought together is quite impressive . . . The quality is consistently high, and the originality and richness of the writing is very compelling.” • Jonathan Shapiro Anjaria, Brandeis University