Downtown Ladies: Informal Commercial Importers, a Haitian Anthropologist and Self-Making in Jamaica (Women in Culture and Society Series)

The Caribbean “market woman” is ingrained in the popular imagination as the archetype of black womanhood in countries throughout the region. Challenging this stereotype and other outdated images of black women, Downtown Ladies offers a more complex picture by documenting the history of independent international traders—known as informal commercial importers, or ICIs—who travel abroad to import and export a vast array of consumer goods sold in the public markets of Kingston, Jamaica. Both by-products of and participants in globalization, ICIs operate on multiple levels and, since their emergence in the 1970s, have made significant contributions to the regional, national, and global economies. Gina Ulysse carefully explores how ICIs, determined to be self-employed, struggle with government regulation and other social tensions to negotiate their autonomy. Informing this story of self-fashioning with reflections on her own experience as a young Haitian anthropologist, Ulysse combines the study of political economy with the study of individual and collective identity to reveal the uneven consequences of disrupting traditional class, color, and gender codes in individual societies and around the world. The Caribbean “market woman” is ingrained in the popular imagination as the archetype of black womanhood in countries throughout the region. Challenging this stereotype and other outdated images of black women, __Downtown Ladies__ offers a more complex picture by documenting the history of independent international traders—known as informal commercial importers, or ICIs—who travel abroad to import and export a vast array of consumer goods sold in the public markets of Kingston, Jamaica. Both by-products of and participants in globalization, ICIs operate on multiple levels and, since their emergence in the 1970s, have made significant contributions to the regional, national, and global economies. Gina Ulysse carefully explores how ICIs, determined to be self-employed, struggle with government regulation and other social tensions to negotiate their autonomy. Informing this story of self-fashioning with reflections on her own experience as a young Haitian anthropologist, Ulysse combines the study of political economy with the study of individual and collective identity to reveal the uneven consequences of disrupting traditional class, color, and gender codes in individual societies and around the world. The "market woman" is ingrained in popular imagination as the archetype of black womanhood in countries throughout the Caribbean. Challenging this stereotype and other outdated images of black women, Downtown Ladies offers a more complex picture by documenting the history of independent international traders-known as informal commercial importers, or ICIs-who travel abroad to import and export a vast array of consumer goods sold in the public markets of Kingston, Jamaica. Informing her story of their self-making with reflections on her own experience as a young Haitian anthropologist, Ulysse combines the study of political economy with the study of individual and collective identity to reveal the uneven consequences of disrupting traditional class, color, and gender codes in individual societies and around the world. Contents Foreword by Catharine R. Stimpson Acknowledgments Introduction. Toward a Reflexive Political Economy within a Political Economy of Reflexivity Chapter 1. Of Ladies and Women: Historicizing Gendered Class and Color Codes Chapter 2. From Higglering to Informal Commercial Importing Chapter 3. Caribbean Alter(ed) natives: An Auto-Ethnographic Quilt Chapter 4. Uptown Women/Downtown Ladies: Differences among ICIs Chapter 5. Inside and Outside of the Arcade: My Downtown Dailies and Miss B.’s Tuffness Chapter 6. Shopping in Miami: Globalization, Saturated Markets, and the Reflexive Political Economy of ICIs Chapter 7. Style, Imported Blackness, and My Jelly Platform Shoes Brawta. Written on Black Bodies: ICIs’ Futures Notes Bibliography Index Introduction: Toward A Reflexive Political Economy Within A Political Economy Of Reflexivity -- Of Ladies And Women : Historicizing Gendered Class And Color Codes -- From Higglering To Informal Commercial Importing -- Caribbean Alter(ed) Natives : An Auto-ethnographic Quilt -- Uptown Women/downtown Ladies : Differences Among Icis -- Inside And Outside Of The Arcade : My Downtown Dailies And Miss B.'s Tuffness -- Shopping In Miami : Globalization, Saturated Markets, And The Reflexive Political Economy Of Icis -- Style, Imported Blackness, And My Jelly Platform Shoes -- Brawta: Written On Black Bodies : The Futures Of Icis. Gina A. Ulysse. Includes Bibliographical References (p. [283]-315) And Index. The Caribbean "market woman" is ingrained in the popular imagination as the archetype of black womanhood in the region. Challenging this stereotype, this work offers a complex picture by documenting the history of international traders who travel abroad to import and export consumer goods sold in the public markets of Kingston, Jamaica.