Street Corner Secrets

Sex, Work, and Migration in the City of Mumbai

Nonfiction, History, Asian, India, Social & Cultural Studies, Social Science, Gender Studies, Women&, Anthropology
Cover of the book Street Corner Secrets by Svati P Shah, Duke University Press
View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart
Author: Svati P Shah ISBN: 9780822376514
Publisher: Duke University Press Publication: July 29, 2014
Imprint: Duke University Press Books Language: English
Author: Svati P Shah
ISBN: 9780822376514
Publisher: Duke University Press
Publication: July 29, 2014
Imprint: Duke University Press Books
Language: English

Street Corner Secrets challenges widespread notions of sex work in India by examining solicitation in three spaces within the city of Mumbai that are seldom placed within the same analytic frame—brothels, streets, and public day-wage labor markets (nakas), where sexual commerce may be solicited discretely alongside other income-generating activities. Focusing on women who migrated to Mumbai from rural, economically underdeveloped areas within India, Svati P. Shah argues that selling sexual services is one of a number of ways women working as laborers may earn a living, demonstrating that sex work, like day labor, is a part of India's vast informal economy. Here, various means of earning—legitimized or stigmatized, legal or illegal—overlap or exist in close proximity to one another, shaping a narrow field of livelihood options that women navigate daily. In the course of this rich ethnography, Shah discusses policing practices, migrants' access to housing and water, the idea of public space, critiques of states and citizenship, and the discursive location of violence within debates on sexual commerce. Throughout, the book analyzes the epistemology of prostitution, and the silences and secrets that constitute the discourse of sexual commerce on Mumbai's streets.

View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart

Street Corner Secrets challenges widespread notions of sex work in India by examining solicitation in three spaces within the city of Mumbai that are seldom placed within the same analytic frame—brothels, streets, and public day-wage labor markets (nakas), where sexual commerce may be solicited discretely alongside other income-generating activities. Focusing on women who migrated to Mumbai from rural, economically underdeveloped areas within India, Svati P. Shah argues that selling sexual services is one of a number of ways women working as laborers may earn a living, demonstrating that sex work, like day labor, is a part of India's vast informal economy. Here, various means of earning—legitimized or stigmatized, legal or illegal—overlap or exist in close proximity to one another, shaping a narrow field of livelihood options that women navigate daily. In the course of this rich ethnography, Shah discusses policing practices, migrants' access to housing and water, the idea of public space, critiques of states and citizenship, and the discursive location of violence within debates on sexual commerce. Throughout, the book analyzes the epistemology of prostitution, and the silences and secrets that constitute the discourse of sexual commerce on Mumbai's streets.

More books from Duke University Press

Cover of the book Migrants and Migration in Modern North America by Svati P Shah
Cover of the book Containing the Poor by Svati P Shah
Cover of the book Generation and Degeneration by Svati P Shah
Cover of the book Confronting the American Dream by Svati P Shah
Cover of the book Gay Fandom and Crossover Stardom by Svati P Shah
Cover of the book Gay Rebel of the Harlem Renaissance by Svati P Shah
Cover of the book Holy Terrors by Svati P Shah
Cover of the book Creating Market Socialism by Svati P Shah
Cover of the book Misers, Shrews, and Polygamists by Svati P Shah
Cover of the book Leaving Art by Svati P Shah
Cover of the book Media Heterotopias by Svati P Shah
Cover of the book Unveiling Traditions by Svati P Shah
Cover of the book Visionary Pragmatism by Svati P Shah
Cover of the book Euripides and the Poetics of Sorrow by Svati P Shah
Cover of the book Persistent Oligarchs by Svati P Shah
We use our own "cookies" and third party cookies to improve services and to see statistical information. By using this website, you agree to our Privacy Policy