Streetbound: Street Vendors in Panama
In Panama, street vendors are found along sidewalks, pedestrian bridges, bus stations, and parking lots, trying to sell their wares. Streetbound tells the story of these vendors whose lives are dominated by instability and insecurity due to constant dislocations and relocations. These vendors are part of Panama’s “informal economy,” where informality translates into limited legal protection, fluctuating salaries, no permanent location to carry out their work, and no safety nets to support them when they get sick or reach retirement age. Often overlooked or dismissed, street vendors are harassed by the police and underrated as contributors to the country’s economy. Streetbound offers an empathetic look into the vendors' lives and a depiction of their significance in the Global South. Their own narratives are a central voice throughout the book, sharing their accounts of the physical and emotional demands of their occupation, the economic structure of their households, and their role in the community.
María Luisa Amado
María Luisa Amado first came to the United States from Panama as a Fulbright Scholar to pursue graduate studies in sociology at Emory University. She has since published two books, Mexican Immigrants in the Labor Market: The Strength of Strong Ties (2006) and Neoliberalism and Labor Displacement in Panama. Contested Public Space and the Disenfranchisement of Street Vendors (2024). She has also authored various peer- reviewed articles on such topics as mestizaje, the U.S. invasion of Panama, and transnationalism and presented her scholarship at conferences in the U.S. and abroad. In 2016, she co-produced a film, “Bien Cuidao: The Informal Economics of Survival in Panama.” Currently, Maria is a Lincoln Financial Professor of Sociology and Anthropology at Guilford College in Greensboro, NC., where she has been teaching Sociology, Latin American and Latinx Studies since 2002.