This dissertation research project will support a student of cultural anthropology from Southern Methodist University in a field study of the informal economy in Martinique, French West Indies. The project will document the importance of informal sector income-producing activities by interviewing a sample of households, in a poorer as well as a middle class neighborhood, about the full range of their economic activities. In addition to conducting participant observation in the neighborhoods, social networks and life histories will be studied to put the information about informal sector activities into context of the lives of the people. This research is important because the informal economy is a significant part of all societies, yet by definition is difficult to measure. Increased understanding of the informal economic activities of families across the socio-economic spectrum can help planners adjust policies to the actual situation in society, as opposed to the easily measured situation.
