With Jacinto Cuvi, ULB

Presentation and discussion of the book The Edge of the Law published with the University of Chicago Press.

In collaboration with IS

The daily delights and conveniences that any city dweller has become accustomed to, such as cold water bottles on a summer afternoon in the park or a popsicle from a tray while you’re sitting in traffic, do not come cheap for those offering them. With a little initiative and very little startup money, an outgoing person might sell you any of these things. Such vendors form a significant share of the workforce in São Paulo, Brazil. Some have the right to practice their trade; others do not. All of them strive to make it--or stay afloat.

In The Edge of the Law, sociologist Jacinto Cuvi introduces us to the world of street vendors and teases out the relationship between constructions of legality and the experience of citizenship. As the government undertakes a large-scale plan to cancel street vending licenses and evict street vendors, Cuvi reveals how the rights of informal workers can be revoked or withheld, and how the lines can be redrawn between those whose work is “legal” and those who work running from the police.

Alongside the mechanics of disenfranchisement, Cuvi captures the lived experience of criminalization, dissecting the distribution of (shallow) rights among vendors as they reinvent strategies to etch out a living while dealing with the constraints and pressures of informal citizenship at the edge of the law.

Thursday 18 september 2025, from 10 am to 12am

Salle de Réception
Maison des Sciences Humaines
Av. Antoine Depage 1
1050 Ixelles

No registration needed