Murid trade in the Barcelonian polis: the challenge to the service economy city

Abstract

This research was an approach to the current nowadays for the murid top manta trade settled in Barcelona, as a result of the last migration Senegalian process. Members involved in a newly created trade union, public space, specificity of this top manta activity and a group of regular street vendors confronted with the formers, were basic issues of study. In order to do that, a multilocated ethnography was performed, as well as participant observation, qualitative interviews to key actors and a check of media. Results showed a politicized and activist individual implementing his human agency in an unfriendly environment, typical for a postindustrial city. Logic of this trade makes fundamentally profit of symbolic value related to fake items, at the expense of income capital for brands. Also, a brief approach to the transnational community is presented. Finally, the migration processes receiving city future are set out as a question mark, considering the lack of social policies.