Slow Boil

Jonathan Shapiro Anjaria is Assistant Professor of Anthropology at Brandeis University.

• 1. Introduction2. The Unruly City3. Occupied Streets4. Managing Illegality5. Estranged Citizens6. Improvisational Urbanism

"A must-read for anyone who wants to understand the contested local forms of participation in the creation of global urbanisms. Theoretically sophisticated and historically informed, Anjaria's sensitive ethnography shows that the lives of urban street hawkers are characterized not by transience and distance, but by deep relationships with the state."—Lisa Mitchell, University of Pennsylvania "In this highly readable book, Anjaria demonstrates the power of ethnography to go beyond universalist arguments about neoliberal displacement of the poor from the city. What he offers us instead is finely-observed data that compels surprising arguments about the nature of citizenship and informality in the megalopolis of Mumbai."—Akhil Gupta, University of California, Los Angeles "Is street vending Mumbai's lifeblood or affliction? This question animates the battles over space and rights in Anjaria's book. A compelling treatise against dystopic urban theory and determinist readings of the law, this rich ethnography illuminates Mumbai as a terrain of spirited maneuver, rather than outright exclusion."—Ajantha Subramanian, Harvard University