No money no honey : a study of street traders and prostitutes in Jakarta

Abstract

In Jakarta, ideas about class and sexuality, time and space are changing rapidly as capitalist transformation takes place. There has historically been a dichotomy between the 'metropolitan city’ culture of the ruling elite and the everyday life of struggle in the lowerclass kampung, but the kampung are now being radically affected by capitalist development and the ideology of consumerism. An examination of kampung Manggarai shows how its alleysidedwelling community has been structured by informal economic activities, networks centred around self-employed women involved in these activities, and communal concepts of time and space. This community is anarchic and relatively autonomous. In contrast, in the ideas authorised by the elite, society is made up of individual consumers and time and space exist as commodities. Households in the urban kampung rely on multiple income-earning strategies, and street trading is one of the few occupations which allows women to make a significant contribution. Street trading is becoming more difficult, however, due to the enforcement of restrictive legislation, and the model of bourgeois consumerism denies women their social and economic importance in the community. The expression 'no money no honey' is increasingly appropriate in Jakarta and is often used by the city's prostitutes. Self-employed prostitutes have their own networks of support and have relative autonomy in their everyday lives. This is apparent in a study of Bangka, a more recently urbanised kampung than Manggarai. Like the street traders, prostitutes' lifestyles are 'alternative' to the recommended ideology of the capitalist state, but at the same time they engage in spectacular consumption more successfully than other alleyside dwellers. Show more