A French bazaar and a Mexican street market: an object-centered comparative analysis of interstitial spaces

Abstract

A neighborhood bazaar run by a community organization in Saint-Denis in the Greater Paris region, an ‘informal’ cultural street market in downtown Mexico City run by the oldest members of the Punk-Rock community. . . Two spaces that have in common the circulation of objects and a dense web of affective interactions between people and commodities. This article shows how the circulation of objects creates interstitial spaces between the public and the domestic. But it goes further by demonstrating that these interstitial spaces also challenge market and gender norms. Through a participatory methodology involving photography and comparative dialog, the article analyzes the place of objects in the creation of interstitial spaces and their subversive potential.