Watch 3 first parts from the documentary film:
Sidewalk 1/8 (Links to an external site.)
What information did you learn about the main character/s in the movie?
One man has been here selling books for 19 years and he has seven kids. He should have had a good life but he was an alcoholic. Some people had a stable job before becoming a book vendor but they got unemployed and they have to support themselves and their family to survive in the city. Some of them can’t read and are homeless.
What research method/s the filmmakers’ use in the documentary?
He became a book vendor himself and used the sociological method of participate observation. He also interviewed many vendors.
What questions do these videos provoke?
Is the lifestyle of the street vendors violating other people’s rights?
How can we support them as random people walking by?
What social support and structure in society you observed?
Old customers of the vendors will give them old books and magazines for them to sell.
People will bring them cigarettes, soda, breakfast sometimes and they are engaged in conversations with them.
What problems do you identify in the life of the sidewalk participants?
They have no proper place to live and some people will give them attitude for the fact that they are occupying part of the street.
