Female micro-entrepreneurs in the Jamaican urban semi -informal economy: The impact of race/color, *class and gender

This project is a multi-method examination (interviews, archival research, direct observation) of the extent to which the race/color and class of two groups of Afro-Jamaican female micro-entrepreneurs, commonly called "higglers" in Jamaica, affect their (1) social status and imagery; (2) economic practices and (3) self perception and agency. It seeks to understand why large numbers of female micro-entrepreneurs are unable to transform their social and economic status, and suggests that an examination of intersecting social relations of race/color, class and gender in Jamaica may offer some insights into the plight of higglers.;This study is guided by the following question: given the dearth of information on the impact of the intersections of race/color, class and gender on the work experiences of female micro-entrepreneurs, what are the implications of Afro-Jamaican higglers' social (social relations of race/color, class and gender) and economic (informality in a peripheral economy) conditions on their social status, economic practices and identities? My research revealed that the dynamics of race/color, class and gender relations in Jamaica impact the experiences of female micro-entrepreneurs in the urban informal economy and, quite possibly, affect their ability to transform their social and economic status. I found that (1) the work patterns of higglers are influenced by intersectional structural patterns of race/color, class and gender making higglering a "black woman's domain", (2) the public images of higglers that devalues higglering draw from historical constructions of race, class, gender contributing to the low status of this kind of work, but I also found (3) higglers exercising their agency by negotiating and intervening in the processes of their stigmatization.