The center in dispute, street work and the city for black women in Salvador/BA

Abstract

This article aims to highlight some of the disputes between women street workers, mostly black women, and the public - municipal - power in the daily life of the city of Salvador, from the practices of these different agents. This discussion is anchored in the research developed in the master's dissertation, articulating theory and empirical, through field research carried out in the downtown area of Salvador. The occupation of the streets and other public spaces, as well as the permanence of women street workers in these spaces, is one of the reasons for the action of the city hall, which acts, in many cases, with violent treatments, coming from the "rapa", from inspections and product seizures. Added to this, the interventions and urban projects, reinforcing the disputes between these agents, and, for the workers, it promotes a feeling of threat, fear of losing the point of work, and/or permanence in the downtown streets. Finally, it is understood that the actions carried out by the city hall, whether through inspection and/or intervention, carries with it economic interest, involving agreements with the private sector, acting through an “anti-blackness” and “dispossession” policy, and with the discourse of ordination, it removes and relocates women workers from their territories, evidencing a disputed center.