Twenty-first International Conference on New Directions in the Humanities

Abstract

In developed countries, policy makers consider informal activities as limited in scope and criminal in nature. Opposing this Western view, Keith Hart (1973) analyzes the informal sector in developing countries, as characterized by an easily-accessed self-employment, and a reliance on own resources in a family enterprise. In Senegal, street vendors contribute directly to the overall level of economic activity, and to the provision of goods and services. They are an integral part of the economy, and their elimination would reduce economic activities and increase poverty. However, there is no real enthusiasm from government authorities to handle the street business. The absence of a device capable of identifying all vendors is considered by authorities as loss earnings, because they wrongly believe vendors would manage to get away with tax. African societies need more of an anthropological approach in the way development patterns are adopted. In a conservative society like Senegal, it is the practices developed in households that shape politics and not the opposite. Therefore, the data collected in this study and within households, although not often considered in development programs, prove to be a solid hypothesis that could allow political authorities to respond, with clarity, to the demands of the populations. This study highlights the significant contribution of street vending in preserving cultural and societal values and in maintaining a substantive level of livelihood, as a social safety net, in urban households.