Thesis Brought Her to Suriname
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UvA-DARE (Digital Academic Repository) Home-based economic activities and Caribbean urban livelihoods: vulneralbility, ambition and impact in Paramaribo and Port of Spain Verrest, H.J.L.M. Publication date 2007 Document Version Final published version Link to publication Citation for published version (APA): Verrest, H. J. L. M. (2007). Home-based economic activities and Caribbean urban livelihoods: vulneralbility, ambition and impact in Paramaribo and Port of Spain. http://nl.aup.nl/books/9789056294908-home-based-economic-activities-and-caribbean-urban- livelihoods.html General rights It is not permitted to download or to forward/distribute the text or part of it without the consent of the author(s) and/or copyright holder(s), other than for strictly personal, individual use, unless the work is under an open content license (like Creative Commons). 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UvA-DARE is a service provided by the library of the University of Amsterdam (https://dare.uva.nl) Download date:05 Oct 2021 AUP-Verrest:AUP/Buijn 27-08-2007 15:54 Pagina 1 UvA Dissertation Verrest Hebe Urban Livelihoods Activities and Caribbean Home-Based Economic Home-Based Economic Activities and Caribbean Urban Livelihoods Faculty of Social and Behavioural Sciences Vulnerability, Ambition and Impact Hebe Verrest was born in Roosendaal (the Netherlands) in 1974. Upon completion of her in Paramaribo and Port of Spain secondary education, she participated in a youth-exchange programme that had her living in Nairobi for three months and fuelled her interest in issues of urban livelihoods and diversity in the economic south. Therefore she continued to study Human Geography at the University of Hebe Verrest Amsterdam which she completed in 1998. In 1997, the fieldwork for her master thesis brought her to Suriname. This was the first of several studies she conducted there. In 2002 she received a NWO/WOTRO grant to do a PhD study on HBEAs in Paramaribo and Port of Spain. Low-income urban households in the economic ‘south’ deploy various livelihood activities. One of these is often a Home-Based Economic Activity (HBEA). This study examines the prevalence, organisation and relevance of HBEAs in four neighbourhoods in the Caribbean cities Paramaribo (Suriname) and Port of Spain (Trinidad and Tobago). The study questions who operates such activ- ities and why; what the absolute and relative impact is on the livelihoods of the involved house- holds; how HBEAs are organised and what role the local institutional context plays in this. Over the past decade Suriname and Trinidad and Tobago have experienced distinct economic develop- ments; Suriname is slowly recovering from an economic crisis while Trinidad and Tobago’s econo- my is rather buoyant. These economic features together with local political developments have produced distinct institutional contexts in each country and city. This gives ground for a compari- son between the two cities; the first to discuss Paramaribo in relation to another Caribbean city. In addition, the study discusses the relevance of currently popular policies on entrepreneurship and micro finance. UNIVERSITEIT VAN AMSTERDAM 9 7 8905 6 2 94908 HOME-BASED ECONOMIC ACTIVITIES AND CARIBBEAN URBAN LIVELIHOODS Vulnerability, Ambition and Impact in Paramaribo and Port of Spain The publication of this book is made possible by a grant from WOTRO (Science for Global Development) of the NWO (Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research) and AMIDSt (Amsterdam Institute for Metropolitan and International Development Studies) of the University of Amsterdam. Lay out: Hebe Verrest Cover design: René Staelenberg, Amsterdam Cover illustration: Daphne Verrest ISBN 978 90 5629 490 8 NUR 900 © Vossiuspers UvA – Amsterdam University Press, 2007 All rights reserved. Without limiting the rights under copyright reserved above, no part of this book may be reproduced, stored in or introduced into a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means (electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise) without the written permission of both the copyright owner and the author of the book. ii H OME-BASED E CONOMIC A CTIVITIES AND C ARIBBEAN U RBAN L IVELIHOODS Vulnerability, Ambition and Impact in Paramaribo and Port of Spain ACADEMISCH PROEFSCHRIFT ter verkrijging van de graad van doctor aan de Universiteit van Amsterdam, op gezag van Rector Magnificus, prof. dr. D.C. van den Boom ten overstaan van een door het College voor Promoties ingestelde commissie, in het openbaar te verdedigen in de Aula der Universiteit op vrijdag 30 november 2007, te 12.00 uur door Hebe Joanna Louisa Maria Verrest geboren te Roosendaal iii Promotiecommissie: Promotor(es): prof. dr. I.S.A. Baud prof. dr. R.E. Reddock Co-promotor(es): prof. dr. G.A. de Bruijne dr. J. Post Overige leden: prof. dr. J.M. Baud prof. dr. L.J. de Haan prof. dr. R.C. Kloosterman dr. A. Mohammed dr. J.M.W. Schalkwijk Faculteit der Maatschappij en Gedragswetenschappen. iv Acknowledgements The life of a promovendus is often associated with spending months and years isolated in a forgotten room in some faculty building. Writing the last pages of this thesis and looking back at the past years, I am sure I will remember my PhD-life differently. Yes, I have lonely, questioning myself on what I was doing, for whom and why? Yet, much more often I have enjoyed PhD-life and felt very fortunate to explore, think about, observe and question the world around me and particularly the lives of people in the studied areas in Paramaribo and Port of Spain. Most of all though, I will associate PhD-life with people. People who have been important at various times of the past years and to whom I feel indebted. In trying to name them all, I am sure to forget someone. So if you feel you should have been listed here, know that I agree. First and foremost I am grateful to the women, men and children in the communities of Krepi, Nieuwweergevondenweg, Gonzales and Mount d’Or for allowing me to be in their home-environment, asking questions and looking around. I am thankful to the people that participated in the survey and allowed me a glance of their daily lives. I cherish the conversations I had with the women and men that agreed to an in-depth interview. Their willingness to respond to personal questions and their openness in telling about past experiences, daily struggles and future dreams, was beyond any of my expectations. Sitting in someone’s shop or under a mango tree, I not only learnt for this study, I learnt for life. My special thanks go to Malcolm Kernahan, Brian Isaac and Father Jason in Gonzales; Jeanet Kernahan and Vera Cazoe in Mount d’Or; Monique and Annet in Krepi; Cynthia and Mariska in Nieuwweergevondenweg. In Suriname and Trinidad and Tobago I spoke to numerous representatives from NGOs, community organisations, governmental departments, businesses and social organisations. Thanks to all of you! I feel privileged to have had the opportunity to work with my promotores and co-promotores. I am grateful to Professor Rhoda Reddock who was, despite her enormous workload, willing to be my promoter. She introduced me to Trinidad and Tobagonian life, including highlights such as ‘playing mass’. Your critical reflections have challenged me throughout the PhD-process and are invaluable to my work. I hope to reflect more on what you taught me in future research, papers and views. Moreover, your commitment, dedication and energy are an example to me. To Johan Post I am thankful for the time and energy he invested in discussing several proposed structures of the thesis as well as commenting on each draft version. I have good memories of your visit to Paramaribo, including sharing Parbo beers and talking about other things than research. I am v happy that visit resulted in a joint publication. Working with you on that article was productive, pleasant and a true cooperation. I started working with Professor Isa Baud and Professor Ad de Bruijne as early as 1996 when I was a Human Geography student at the Universiteit van Amsterdam. You suggested I should take up a PhD-research, long before I had ever considered it. I did not think it was something for me but you kept on stimulating me, and I am happy you did. I have always felt the trust you put in me and in my work, and have experienced that as a great support. Ad, you introduced me to your beloved Sranan. By sharing your memories, knowledge and contacts with me, you have passed some of that love on to me. The manner in which you move energetically around Parbo, conduct research, speak and write about the country and its people, is widely respected and appreciated in Suriname. And, it is an example to me. Isa, when I was in need for a quiet place to write, you opened up the farmhouse in Dalfsen to me. The weeks I spent there writing chapters were priceless. During some of those weeks in Dalfsen, I had the joy of your company. That was what one could call in-depth and unique supervision. Yet, during the many walks and talks (and shop sessions!), I got to know you as more than a supervisor. From you, I hope to have learnt to be result-oriented without missing depth; to think ahead while listening carefully; and that, despite ambition, there is more to life than work.