Beyond the ‘hustling’: the everyday discourse of hope of informal traders in a Ghanaian city

ABSTRACT

Conventional literature on urban studies have often framed informality within the concept of ‘hustle’ at multiple sites in the city. Such studies usually examine the uncertainties and struggles of informal traders in the realms of city management. This article moves away from the over flocked issues of abuse and suppression to explore the practices of informal traders that produce hope to reflect and recast the uncertainties associated with urban informality. In doing so, we discuss the typologies of the activity and account for knowledge and practices in theorizing urban informality as a space of hope. Drawing from qualitative research conducted with informal traders in urban Ghana, we highlight the everyday practices that shape traders’ hopes and engagements which lie behind their hustles. Evidence of a better ‘tomorrow’, re-organize their life and protect family legacy are shaped by many examples of their colleagues who once walloped in that livelihood activity but who are now ‘counting the money’ and controlling the urban business activities in the malls and markets. We argue that urban informal traders cannot be pigeonholed as mainly hustlers subsisting on the fragile urban economy but rather the notion of hope complements and extends the ‘hustling’ in the city.

KEYWORDS:

• Ghana
• hustle
• hope
• informality
• livelihood

Acknowledgments

A debt of gratitude to all who assisted in the data collection towards the successful completion of this research.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Funding

This work did not receive any external funding support. It was funded by the authors.