No Money, No Honey: Study of Street Traders and Prostitutes in Jakarta - Tapa dura

Jakarta, since colonial times Indonesia's foremost city, and now one of the thriving cities of the Third World, is the setting of this case study which focuses on the everyday lives of two groups of lower-class women - street traders and self-employed girls working as prostitutes - in a bar in one of the entertainment districts. After acquiring a working knowledge of colloquial Indonesian, the author carried out fieldwork in Jakarta from 1983 to 1985, and returned there several times between 1986 and 1989. Dr Murray studied real life at close quarters and developed an understanding of lower-class women's lives through informal observation and situational dialogues.