Place-making and Communication Practice: Precarity in a Night Market in Hong Kong

• Other Authors: Chan, Ngai Keung (author.)
• Format: Others
• Language: English; Chinese
• Published: 2016
• Online Access: http://repository.lib.cuhk.edu.hk/en/item/cuhk-1292274

本論文以一個晚上的無牌小販市場為研究對象。這個市場位於香港的深水埗，有大約50至70個無牌小販。這些小販每天都面對法律和空間的不確定性。他們能否和如何擺檔，都取決於小販管理隊的執法。不論在學術的文獻，或是媒體的報導，小販這類非正式經濟 (informal economy) 往往被視為窮人的工作空間。換言之，小販被假定為窮人，而他們不穩定的工作經驗則經常被忽視。無可否認，社經地位某程度上提供了物質基礎去取得相應的資源。然而，很少研究討論人們在日常工作中如何經歷不穩性 (precarity)。 === 基於文化話語研究（Cultural Discourse Analysis），本論文探討小販如何透過溝通實踐，去建構和維持身處空間的意義，以及作為一個在夜市擺檔的小販的不穩定經驗（Carbaugh, 2007）。具體而言，本論文有三個研究問題。第一，夜市擺檔的小販有甚麼溝通實踐？第二，對小販而言，這些溝通實踐有甚麼意義？第三，夜市擺檔的小販如何建構市場成為一個物質、文化、關係和階級的空間？透過跟15名小販和兩名社區組織的主要參與者進行半結構訪談，以及在2015至2016年間在夜市進行的參與觀察，本論文嘗試處理上述研究問題。 === 本研究發現和討論小販日常生活的三種溝通實踐，分別是地方命名、爭論和「醒水」。地方命名是指不同人如何透過命名一個地方和訴說有關的故事，以建構空間的意義。爭論是指小販在日常生活當中，如何透過「霸位」和與其他人爭論，以取得空間的使用權。「醒水」作為一種通實踐，反映了小販和小販管理隊的溝通規範。這三種溝通實踐在空間內進行，同時也是一個過程，將夜市建構成一個有意義的物質、文化、關係和階級空間。在空間營造（place-making）的過程中，本研究發現不穩定的生活經驗是理解甚麼是小販的重要部份。 === 簡言之，本研究希望透過討論空間營造和不穩性，能更深入理解溝通實踐如何建構空間的意義。此外，本論文有助於理解小販在空間內的不穩定工作經驗。最後，本研究可有助於反思現時香港政府和社區組織對夜市，以至是其他非正式經濟的理解。 === This thesis is situated in a night market consisting of 50 to 70 individuals or groups of unlicensed hawkers in Sham Shui Po, Hong Kong. The unlicensed hawkers faced the legal and spatial uncertain working conditions every night. That is, whether, when, and where unlicensed hawkers in the night market can hawk depends on the decisions of the Hawker Control Team. In both academic literature and mass media, informal economies are often associated with the urban poor. In this vein, the night market is presumed to be a place specifically for the poor. The hawkers are presumed to be the poor, and their precarious experience in place is also reduced to be the mere socio-economic condition. It is undeniable that economic condition, to a certain extent, provides the material basis to access certain goods, lifestyles, and social experiences. However, few studies examine how people experience precarity in their everyday work. === Grounded in Cultural Discourse Analysis, this thesis explores how the hawkers constitute and maintain the socio-cultural meanings of place and themselves as the precarious being through their communication practices (Carbaugh, 2007). Specifically, this study asks three questions. First, what are the hawkers’ communication practices in the night market? Second, what are the meanings of these communication practices to the hawkers? Third, how do the hawkers create the market as a material, cultural, relational, and classed place through their distinctive communication practices? To answer these questions, this thesis uses the semi-structured interviews with 15 hawkers and two key participants of the community organizations and participant observations of the night market in 2015 and 2016. === This thesis has identified and discussed three major communication practices: place-naming, arguing, and “being smart.” These three practices occur in the night market, and construct the market to be a meaningful material, relational, cultural, and classed place-in-the-making. In the place-making process, this study has found that the precarious experience is an important element to characterizing what it means to be a hawker in the night market, regardless of their income level and class identifications. In a nutshell, this thesis aims to complicate the constitutive role of communication practices in making place by taking place-making and precarity into consideration. This thesis contributes to better understanding the lived precarious experiences of the hawkers in an informal economy. In addition, the practical implication of this study is to challenge the government’s and community organizations’ current understandings of the market. === Chan, Ngai Keung. === Thesis M.Phil. Chinese University of Hong Kong 2016. === Includes bibliographical references (leaves ). === Abstracts also in Chinese. === Title from PDF title page (viewed on …). === Detailed summary in vernacular field only. === Detailed summary in vernacular field only. === Detailed summary in vernacular field only. === Detailed summary in vernacular field only.