Female Bodies and the Street

Black Women Street Workers in Everyday City Making

Abstract

The text is a transcription of the author's speech at the panel “Female Bodies and the Street” of the Gendered Cities Colloquium. Aleida Batistoti analyzes the historical and contemporary presence of Black women street workers in Salvador, highlighting how their daily practices produce the city, create territorialities, and challenge dichotomies between public and private. The author highlights state violence, processes of urban exclusion, and, simultaneously, the strategies of resistance, autonomy, and the maintenance of life that these women built in public spaces.