Saigons Edge: On the Margins of Ho Chi Minh City

(Paperback)

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Much of the world's population inhabits the urban fringe, an area that is neither fully rural nor urban. Hc Mn, 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 Hc Mn, putting forth a revealing perspective on how rapid urbanization impacts the people who live at the intersection of rural and urban worlds.

Reviews

"Sad and tragic, and at times funny and full of hope, Erik Harms shows how people live in the murky zones of the urban-rural divide, in the runoff, the debris, and wasteland of a now relentless urban industrial expansion. Saigons Edge is a wake up call for all of us who study the global city: socialist cities in the throes of global integration and world capitalist utopian imaginings have powerful stories to tell that we cannot afford to ignore. Saigons Edge sets a new benchmark on how to study the urban form, capitalist, socialist, and everything in between."Ralph Litzinger, Duke University

Author Bio

Erik Harms is assistant professor of anthropology at Yale University.