Saigon's Edge: On the Margins of Ho Chi Minh City (Paperback) (ISBN-13: 9780816656066)

Much of the world's population inhabits the urban fringe, an area that is neither fully rural nor urban. H M, a district that lies along a key transport corridor on the outskirts of Ho Chi Minh City, epitomizes one of those places. In Saigon's Edge, Erik Harms explores life in H M, putting forth a revealing perspective on how rapid urbanization impacts the people who live at the intersection of rural and urban worlds.
Unlike the idealized Vietnamese model of urban space, H M is between worlds, neither outside nor inside but always uncomfortably both. With particular attention to everyday social realities, Harms demonstrates how living on the margin can be both alienating and empowering, as forces that exclude its denizens from power and privilege in the inner city are used to thwart the status quo on the rural edges.
More than a local case study of urban change, Harms's work also opens a window on Vietnam's larger turn toward market socialism and the celebration of urbanization--transformations instructively linked to trends around the globe.

Author: Erik Harms
ISBN-10: 0816656061
ISBN-13: 9780816656066
Publisher: University of Minnesota Press
Language: English
Published: 03/28/2011
Pages: 320
Format: Paperback
Weight: 0.80lbs
Size: 8.30h x 5.40w x 0.80d

Review Citation(s):
Choice 12/01/2011
Reference and Research Bk News 06/01/2011 pg. 112