Dinâmicas de co-operação entre vendedores de vestuário no Mercado “Informal” de Xipamanine, na Cidade de Maputo

Abstract

This report is the result of exploratory research that I carried out between mid-August and early October 2012, in Maputo City, in which I analyzed the practices and meanings of co-operation between clothing sellers in the “Informal” Market in Xipamanine. I started from the assumption that the existence of groups of relatively autonomous, closed sellers, with a certain level of organization and the practices observable in their daily lives were the effects of the confrontation between the institutional regulatory framework and the interests, perspectives and beliefs of the sellers. For the present study I adopted a qualitative methodology, articulating the historical and ethnographic methods. Using open interviews and informal individual and collective conversations I collected data that allowed me to understand why some institutional normative prescriptions in force in the market are confronted with the sellers' beliefs and perspectives, analyze the way they manipulate norms and mobilize strategies to promote and these in turn contribute to cooperation in their work. The study allowed to notice that some practices, norms and strategies adopted by interviewers are generated by the institutional normative prescriptions, competition and interculturality, contributing to the dynamics of co-operation between them. Power relations, relations established outside the market, dissensions, stereotypes and table games and billiards between sellers were aspects observed during the research, that strengthen their cooperative ties. The survey results allowed for greater visibility of mannerism as co-sellers operate in the “Informal” Market in Xipamanine. It also brought reflections that complement the existing explanations about the dynamics of co-operation(TRADUÇÃO NOSSA)