Original scientific paper
https://doi.org/10.17234/SEC.36.16
Squatter Economy: An Ethnography of Zagreb’s "Postaja" (Summary)
Ivona Kos
Abstract
This paper is based on an ethnographic study of contemporary housing, the social, and political squat Postaja in the city of Zagreb, Croatia. The two main ways of making a livelihood in this squatter community are placed at the center of the analysis. The first part focuses on a type of alternative economy called “recycling economy” through which the squatter household utilizes unused resources and surpluses from the capitalist system of production to meet its needs. Special attention is paid to the relationship squatters establish with food. The second part introduces a type of informal economy, exemplified by the so-called “squatter-juggler” working at the city’s traffic light intersections. Attested practices are interpreted through the value system of the squatter community, oriented towards anarchist principles with the purpose of autonomous life in a collective.
Keywords
squatting; Zagreb; anarchism; alternative economy; informal economy
Hrčak ID:
325705
URI
Publication date:
30.12.2024.
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