The Act of Living explores the relation between development and marginality in Ethiopia, one of the fastest growing economies in Africa. Replete with richly depicted characters and multi-layered narratives on history, everyday life and visions of the future, Marco Di Nunzio's ethnography of hustling and street life is an investigation of what is to live, hope and act in the face of the failing promises of development and change. Di Nunzio follows the life trajectories of two men, "Haile" and "Ibrahim," as they grow up in the Ethiopian capital Addis Ababa, enter street life to get by, and turn to the city's expanding economies of work and entrepreneurship to search for a better life. Apparently favourable circumstances of development have not helped them achieve social improvement. As their condition of marginality endures, the two men embark in restless attempts to transform living into a site for hope and possibility.