Sellers and Servants: Working Women in Lima, Peru

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Sellers and Servants is a welcome addition to research on a neglected subject, that of poverty-stricken Peruvian women whose alternatives for subsistence are few and cruel: to be a servant or to peddle goods in the markets and streets of Lima. Contemporary Sociology A tour de force . . . Bunster and Chaney set out `to tap an inner world of feelings, values, and significance' among poor migrant women in Lima. . . . Using an innovative `talking pictures' interview technique, the authors delve into the lives of these `poorest of the poor' revealing simultaneously their suffering and their strength. Women's Review of Books Ximena Bunster directs her own research center on women in Santiago, Chile. Elsa Chaney teaches and works in the field of comparative politics, centered around women in development concerns in the Caribbean, South America, and Africa.

Reviews

[An] important resource for women's studies and contemporary Latin America courses . . . show[s] that these women are not silent, and our understanding of how women cope economically in the contemporary world is enriched by listening to what they have to say.-Signs
A tour de force . . . Bunster and Chaney set out "to tap an inner world of feelings, values and significance" among poor migrant women in Lima. . . . Using an innovative "talking pictures" interview technique, the authors delve into the lives of these "poorest of the poor," revealing simultaneously their suffering and their strength.-Women's Review of Books
Sellers & Servants is very readable and makes an important contribution to a better understanding of the overwhelming burden borne by women in the Third World, and how they cope with it.-Latin America Connexions
Sellers and Servants is a welcome addition to research on a neglected subject, that of poverty-stricken Peruvian women whose alternatives for subsistence are few and cruel; to be a servant or to peddle goods in the markets and streets of Lima.-Contemporary Sociology
"An important resource for women's studies and contemporary Latin America courses . . . shows that these women are not silent, and our understanding of how women cope economically in the contemporary world is enriched by listening to what they have to say."-Signs
"Sellers & Servants is very readable and makes an important contribution to a better understanding of the overwhelming burden borne by women in the Third World, and how they cope with it."-Latin America Connexions
"[An] important resource for women's studies and contemporary Latin America courses . . . show[s] that these women are not silent, and our understanding of how women cope economically in the contemporary world is enriched by listening to what they have to say."-Signs
"Sellers and Servants is a welcome addition to research on a neglected subject, that of poverty-stricken Peruvian women whose alternatives for subsistence are few and cruel; to be a servant or to peddle goods in the markets and streets of Lima."-Contemporary Sociology
"A tour de force . . . Bunster and Chaney set out "to tap an inner world of feelings, values and significance" among poor migrant women in Lima. . . . Using an innovative "talking pictures" interview technique, the authors delve into the lives of these "poorest of the poor," revealing simultaneously their suffering and their strength."-Women's Review of Books

Author Bio

XIMENA BUNSTER, directs her own research center on women, in Santiago. Dr. Bunster's research and writing cover such topics as Latin American society and culture underdevelopment, working conditions of women and children in developing societies, peasant societies and the anthropology/sociology of women and of human rights. ELSA M. CHANEY has divided her working life between teaching and practical work in the field, centered around women in development concerns in the Caribbean, South America and Africa. Her field work in Peru for this book was preceded by an earlier stay in that country, where she interviewed 167 women active in local and national politics for her book Supermadre: Women in Politics in Peru and Chile.