Urban communities / city life Books

Book SynopsisPosits that contemporary Brazil is a settler colony. Based on ethnographic research and her experiences growing up in Brazil, the author tells the stories of communities in Rio de Janeiro, SÃo Paulo, and Belo Horizonte.

Read more less

Book Synopsis

Read more less

Book SynopsisExplores complex social issues through personal narrative. Jerome Morris does so by blending social-science research with his own memoir of life in Birmingham, Alabama. As Morris’s experiential narrative voice unfolds, the reader is brought on a journey of what life is like for people who live and die at the intersection of race and poverty.Trade ReviewCentral City’s Joy and Pain is not just a story about events that took place several decades ago but is also well connected to the systems that remain in place for the perpetuation of Black oppression. Jerome E. Morris has done a great job of sharing his experiences with the broader community, and readers—not only in Birmingham and the South, but well beyond—will be enriched by the experiences and insights conveyed here." - Charles Connerly, professor emeritus of urban and regional planning, University of Iowa

Read more less

Book SynopsisThis study analyzes a popular festival and vigilante lynching, examining them as a form of political spectacle performed by improverished people who want to gain access to the potential benefits of citizenship in a modern city.Trade Review“The Spectacular City is a highly original contribution to the ethnography of law, violence, and the state. Goldstein explores the connections between localism and violence both as situated action and as genres of performance, resulting in a nuanced analysis of politics between state and nonstate forms.”—Carol Greenhouse, coeditor of Ethnography in Unstable Places: Everyday Lives in Contexts of Dramatic Political Change“Fascinating and rich in ethnographic detail, The Spectacular City is particularly important at this moment because it examines the increase in common crime that has accompanied the consolidation of neoliberal capitalism in Latin America. Although it is widely appreciated that crime has gotten worse, there are very few anthropological studies that explore this phenomenon at the local level.”—Lesley Gill, author of The School of the Americas: Military Training and Political Violence in the AmericasTable of ContentsAbout the Series ix Acknowledgments xi Introduction: Becoming Visible in Neoliberal Bolivia 1 1. Ethnography, Governmentality, and Urban Life 29 2. Urbanism, Modernity, and Migration to Cochabamba 53 3. Villa Sebastian Pagador and the Politics of Community 90 4. Performing National Culture in the Fiesta de San Miguel 134 5. Spectacular Violence and Citizen Security 179 Conclusion: Theaters of Memory and the Violence of Citizenship 215 Notes 225 References 239 Index 265

Read more less

Book SynopsisThis study analyzes a popular festival and vigilante lynching, examining them as a form of political spectacle performed by improverished people who want to gain access to the potential benefits of citizenship in a modern city.Trade Review“The Spectacular City is a highly original contribution to the ethnography of law, violence, and the state. Goldstein explores the connections between localism and violence both as situated action and as genres of performance, resulting in a nuanced analysis of politics between state and nonstate forms.”—Carol Greenhouse, coeditor of Ethnography in Unstable Places: Everyday Lives in Contexts of Dramatic Political Change“Fascinating and rich in ethnographic detail, The Spectacular City is particularly important at this moment because it examines the increase in common crime that has accompanied the consolidation of neoliberal capitalism in Latin America. Although it is widely appreciated that crime has gotten worse, there are very few anthropological studies that explore this phenomenon at the local level.”—Lesley Gill, author of The School of the Americas: Military Training and Political Violence in the AmericasTable of ContentsAbout the Series ix Acknowledgments xi Introduction: Becoming Visible in Neoliberal Bolivia 1 1. Ethnography, Governmentality, and Urban Life 29 2. Urbanism, Modernity, and Migration to Cochabamba 53 3. Villa Sebastian Pagador and the Politics of Community 90 4. Performing National Culture in the Fiesta de San Miguel 134 5. Spectacular Violence and Citizen Security 179 Conclusion: Theaters of Memory and the Violence of Citizenship 215 Notes 225 References 239 Index 265

Read more less

Book SynopsisEl Alto, Rebel City combines ethnography and political theory to explore the astonishing political power exercised by the indigenous citizens of El Alto, Bolivia in the past decade.Trade Review“This book contributes to Andean anthropology by providing an insightful and wellcrafted ethnographic account of practices and experiences of citizenship in the city of El Alto, and emphasizing the importance of engaging with urban research in the region.” - Melania Calestani, Critique of Anthropology“Lazar has written a fine study which substantially lives up to its claim to provide an ethnographic analysis of El Alto, and provides new insights for Andean studies in an urban context and of how citizenship is constructed through practice.” - Graham Thiele, Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute“Sian Lazar’s book El Alto, Rebel City is a magnificent ethnographic study of a specific neighbourhood in the city of El Alto, Bolivia, in the years before Evo Morales became president. . . . The book is a goldmine for scholars caught between their attachment to the – indisputable – values of classic liberal democracy and the awareness that reality is different. It can teach us something about other possible ways of actually doing democracy – without an inclination to make these practices more attractive than they really are. Like very few others do, this book actually takes us to the work floor of democracy where it is put into practice. Any desire to understand democracy or democratic mores in Bolivia (or elsewhere) should begin by reading it.” - Ton Salman, European Review of Latin American and Caribbean Studies“El Alto, Rebel City is a terrific book. The author broadly engages the civic life of residents in a working-class city. Offering a coherent account of collective selves in the making, Lazar reveals these to be the foundation of an innovative form of citizenship. The book deserves a broad readership, both of those interested in emergent identities in contemporary Latin America and, more generally, of those studying the new urban citizenries that are shaping global cities.” - Rudi Colloredo-Mansfeld, PoLAR“The richness of these chapters provides useful material for those who work in Bolivia and contributes to a body of knowledge that allows scholars to piece together patterns of citizenship in multiple social contexts. . . . This book provides useful and compelling analysis of the dynamics of self and belonging that residents of Rosas Pampa and the Asociación de Pescaderas frame their citizenship practices.” - Juan Manuel Arbona, Journal of Latin American Studies“El Alto offers a clearly written portrait of a city that has become key to understanding current Bolivian politics. This rich case study can inform conceptions of citizenship that emphasize the role of practices, social organizations, and collective traditions. Scholars interested in the making of citizenship in Bolivia and it vibrant and changing society will find this book useful and inspiring.” - Pablo Lapegna, Hispanic American Historical Review“A marvelous piece of ethnographic analysis written with unusual clarity, El Alto, Rebel City provides a unique lens for viewing (and rethinking) the nature and strategies of contemporary, urban popular mobilization.”—Brooke Larson, author Trials of Nation Making: Liberalism, Race, and Ethnicity in the Andes, 1810–1910“An important contribution to Andeanist anthropology, Sian Lazar’s innovative treatment of citizenship represents a new take on classic political and urban anthropology. Very few studies have explored with such nuance and personal intimacy the political beliefs and practices of poor residents of an Andean city.”—Daniel M. Goldstein, author of The Spectacular City: Violence and Performance in Urban Bolivia“El Alto, Rebel City is a terrific book. The author broadly engages the civic life of residents in a working-class city. Offering a coherent account of collective selves in the making, Lazar reveals these to be the foundation of an innovative form of citizenship. The book deserves a broad readership, both of those interested in emergent identities in contemporary Latin America and, more generally, of those studying the new urban citizenries that are shaping global cities.” -- Rudi Colloredo-Mansfeld * PoLAR *“El Alto offers a clearly written portrait of a city that has become key to understanding current Bolivian politics. This rich case study can inform conceptions of citizenship that emphasize the role of practices, social organizations, and collective traditions. Scholars interested in the making of citizenship in Bolivia and it vibrant and changing society will find this book useful and inspiring.” -- Pablo Lapegna * Hispanic American Historical Review *“Lazar has written a fine study which substantially lives up to its claim to provide an ethnographic analysis of El Alto, and provides new insights for Andean studies in an urban context and of how citizenship is constructed through practice.” -- Graham Thiele * Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute *“Sian Lazar’s book El Alto, Rebel City is a magnificent ethnographic study of a specific neighbourhood in the city of El Alto, Bolivia, in the years before Evo Morales became president. . . . The book is a goldmine for scholars caught between their attachment to the – indisputable – values of classic liberal democracy and the awareness that reality is different. It can teach us something about other possible ways of actually doing democracy – without an inclination to make these practices more attractive than they really are. Like very few others do, this book actually takes us to the work floor of democracy where it is put into practice. Any desire to understand democracy or democratic mores in Bolivia (or elsewhere) should begin by reading it.” -- Ton Salman * European Review of Latin American and Caribbean Studies *“The richness of these chapters provides useful material for those who work in Bolivia and contributes to a body of knowledge that allows scholars to piece together patterns of citizenship in multiple social contexts. . . . This book provides useful and compelling analysis of the dynamics of self and belonging that residents of Rosas Pampa and the Asociación de Pescaderas frame their citizenship practices.” -- Juan Manuel Arbona * Journal of Latin American Studies *“This book contributes to Andean anthropology by providing an insightful and wellcrafted ethnographic account of practices and experiences of citizenship in the city of El Alto, and emphasizing the importance of engaging with urban research in the region.” -- Melania Calestani * Critique of Anthropology *Table of ContentsList of Illustrations ix Acknowledgments xi Introduction 1 1. El Alto the City 25 Part One 2. Constructing the Zone 61 3. Citizens Despite the State 91 4. Place, Movement, and Ritual 118 5. How the Gods Touch Humans (and Vice Versa) 144 Part Two 6. Competition, Individualism, and Collective Organization 178 7. "In-Betweenness" and Political Agency 206 8. The State and the Unions 233 Conclusion 258 Notes 267 Glossary 283 Bibliography 287 Index 311

Read more less

Book SynopsisEl Alto, Rebel City combines ethnography and political theory to explore the astonishing political power exercised by the indigenous citizens of El Alto, Bolivia in the past decade.Trade Review“This book contributes to Andean anthropology by providing an insightful and wellcrafted ethnographic account of practices and experiences of citizenship in the city of El Alto, and emphasizing the importance of engaging with urban research in the region.” - Melania Calestani, Critique of Anthropology“Lazar has written a fine study which substantially lives up to its claim to provide an ethnographic analysis of El Alto, and provides new insights for Andean studies in an urban context and of how citizenship is constructed through practice.” - Graham Thiele, Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute“Sian Lazar’s book El Alto, Rebel City is a magnificent ethnographic study of a specific neighbourhood in the city of El Alto, Bolivia, in the years before Evo Morales became president. . . . The book is a goldmine for scholars caught between their attachment to the – indisputable – values of classic liberal democracy and the awareness that reality is different. It can teach us something about other possible ways of actually doing democracy – without an inclination to make these practices more attractive than they really are. Like very few others do, this book actually takes us to the work floor of democracy where it is put into practice. Any desire to understand democracy or democratic mores in Bolivia (or elsewhere) should begin by reading it.” - Ton Salman, European Review of Latin American and Caribbean Studies“El Alto, Rebel City is a terrific book. The author broadly engages the civic life of residents in a working-class city. Offering a coherent account of collective selves in the making, Lazar reveals these to be the foundation of an innovative form of citizenship. The book deserves a broad readership, both of those interested in emergent identities in contemporary Latin America and, more generally, of those studying the new urban citizenries that are shaping global cities.” - Rudi Colloredo-Mansfeld, PoLAR“The richness of these chapters provides useful material for those who work in Bolivia and contributes to a body of knowledge that allows scholars to piece together patterns of citizenship in multiple social contexts. . . . This book provides useful and compelling analysis of the dynamics of self and belonging that residents of Rosas Pampa and the Asociación de Pescaderas frame their citizenship practices.” - Juan Manuel Arbona, Journal of Latin American Studies“El Alto offers a clearly written portrait of a city that has become key to understanding current Bolivian politics. This rich case study can inform conceptions of citizenship that emphasize the role of practices, social organizations, and collective traditions. Scholars interested in the making of citizenship in Bolivia and it vibrant and changing society will find this book useful and inspiring.” - Pablo Lapegna, Hispanic American Historical Review“A marvelous piece of ethnographic analysis written with unusual clarity, El Alto, Rebel City provides a unique lens for viewing (and rethinking) the nature and strategies of contemporary, urban popular mobilization.”—Brooke Larson, author Trials of Nation Making: Liberalism, Race, and Ethnicity in the Andes, 1810–1910“An important contribution to Andeanist anthropology, Sian Lazar’s innovative treatment of citizenship represents a new take on classic political and urban anthropology. Very few studies have explored with such nuance and personal intimacy the political beliefs and practices of poor residents of an Andean city.”—Daniel M. Goldstein, author of The Spectacular City: Violence and Performance in Urban Bolivia“El Alto, Rebel City is a terrific book. The author broadly engages the civic life of residents in a working-class city. Offering a coherent account of collective selves in the making, Lazar reveals these to be the foundation of an innovative form of citizenship. The book deserves a broad readership, both of those interested in emergent identities in contemporary Latin America and, more generally, of those studying the new urban citizenries that are shaping global cities.” -- Rudi Colloredo-Mansfeld * PoLAR *“El Alto offers a clearly written portrait of a city that has become key to understanding current Bolivian politics. This rich case study can inform conceptions of citizenship that emphasize the role of practices, social organizations, and collective traditions. Scholars interested in the making of citizenship in Bolivia and it vibrant and changing society will find this book useful and inspiring.” -- Pablo Lapegna * Hispanic American Historical Review *“Lazar has written a fine study which substantially lives up to its claim to provide an ethnographic analysis of El Alto, and provides new insights for Andean studies in an urban context and of how citizenship is constructed through practice.” -- Graham Thiele * Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute *“Sian Lazar’s book El Alto, Rebel City is a magnificent ethnographic study of a specific neighbourhood in the city of El Alto, Bolivia, in the years before Evo Morales became president. . . . The book is a goldmine for scholars caught between their attachment to the – indisputable – values of classic liberal democracy and the awareness that reality is different. It can teach us something about other possible ways of actually doing democracy – without an inclination to make these practices more attractive than they really are. Like very few others do, this book actually takes us to the work floor of democracy where it is put into practice. Any desire to understand democracy or democratic mores in Bolivia (or elsewhere) should begin by reading it.” -- Ton Salman * European Review of Latin American and Caribbean Studies *“The richness of these chapters provides useful material for those who work in Bolivia and contributes to a body of knowledge that allows scholars to piece together patterns of citizenship in multiple social contexts. . . . This book provides useful and compelling analysis of the dynamics of self and belonging that residents of Rosas Pampa and the Asociación de Pescaderas frame their citizenship practices.” -- Juan Manuel Arbona * Journal of Latin American Studies *“This book contributes to Andean anthropology by providing an insightful and wellcrafted ethnographic account of practices and experiences of citizenship in the city of El Alto, and emphasizing the importance of engaging with urban research in the region.” -- Melania Calestani * Critique of Anthropology *Table of ContentsList of Illustrations ix Acknowledgments xi Introduction 1 1. El Alto the City 25 Part One 2. Constructing the Zone 61 3. Citizens Despite the State 91 4. Place, Movement, and Ritual 118 5. How the Gods Touch Humans (and Vice Versa) 144 Part Two 6. Competition, Individualism, and Collective Organization 178 7. "In-Betweenness" and Political Agency 206 8. The State and the Unions 233 Conclusion 258 Notes 267 Glossary 283 Bibliography 287 Index 311

Read more less

Book SynopsisContains essays that include an investigation of representation and self-stylization in Johannesburg, an ethnographic examination of friction zones and practices of social reproduction in inner-city Johannesburg, and a discussion of the economic and literary relationship between Johannesburg and Maputo, Mozambique's capital.Trade Review“An extraordinary exploration of what is so often left out of accounts about cities: what is beneath and what is at the edge. It goes where much of the urban scholarship leaves off or, rather, trails off. The authors’ project to write Johannesburg into today’s history will serve as a compass to enable researchers and writers to engage other cities that have been left out of history or given a narrow colonial presence.”—Saskia Sassen, author of Territory, Authority, Rights: From Medieval to Global Assemblages“Taken together, the essays in Johannesburg: The Elusive Metropolis offer radically new ways of thinking about this complex city, as well as many hints about emerging or re-emerging cities elsewhere. The essays challenge dominant models of urbanism and demonstrate with force and subtlety how African cities in general and Johannesburg in particular outpace urban theory. Each essay ‘de-scribes’ the city now in order to envision the city to come. In this volume, we hear—over the droning clichés that still circulate about the African city’s ruin and decadence—another note, another cadence.”—Ackbar Abbas, author of Hong Kong: Culture and the Politics of DisappearanceTable of ContentsAcknowledgments vii Introduction: Afropolis / Achille Mbembe and Sarah Nuttall 1 1. Aesthetics of Superfluity / Achille Mbembe 37 2. People as Infrastructure / Abdoumaliq Simone 68 3. Stylizing the Self / Sarah Nuttall 91 4. Gandhi, Mandela, and the African Modern / Jonathan Hyslop 119 5. Art Johannesburg and Its Objects / David Bunn 137 6. The Suffering Body of the City / Frédéric Le Marcis 170 7. Literary City / Sarah Nuttall 195 Voice Lines Instant City / John Matshikiza 221 Soweto Now / Achille Mbembe, Nsizwa Dlamini, and Grace Khunou 239 The Arrivants / Tom Odhiambo and Robert Muponde 248 Johannesburg, Metropolis of Mozambique / Stefan Helgesson 259 Sounds in the City / Xavier Livermon 271 Nocturnal Johannesburg / Julia Hornberger 285 Megamalls, Generic City / Fred De Vries 297 Yeoville Confidential / Achal Prabhala 307 From the Ruins / Mark Gevisser 317 Reframing Township Space / Lindsay Bremner 337 Afterword: The Risk of Johannesburg / Arjun Appadurai and Carol A. Breckenridge 349 Bibliography 355 Contributors 375 Index

Read more less

Book SynopsisOffers a look at non-Western global cities. This work focuses on urban imaginaries, the way that city dwellers perceive or imagine their own cities. It analyzes the effects of global processes such as the growth of transnational corporations and investment, the weakening of state sovereignty, and the privatization of previously public services.Trade Review“Other Cities, Other Worlds is interdisciplinary in the best sense of the term. Architects and architectural historians and critics, art curators, anthropologists, cultural analysts and social theorists, historians and sociologists speak to and through each other, relating older urban forms to emergent ones, drawing on contemporary critical theory developed in the metropoles but put to new work. This book will affect how we think of globalization itself, as not just a top-down linear form of development and displacement but a far more complex set of interactions that the contributors do a very good job of beginning to comprehend.”—David Theo Goldberg, author of The Racial State“Other Cities, Other Worlds offers quite brilliant and absorbing accounts of urban imaginaries in major cities outside the West. This is not just another globalization book but one of real distinction about contemporary urban life ‘elsewhere.’”—George E. Marcus, co-author of Designs for an Anthropology of the Contemporary“This in-depth and wide-ranging study of the results of urban development in Latin America, Africa, Asia, and the Middle East points not only to the radical transformations effected by the globalization of neoliberal capitalism but also to their fundamentally different effects on culture, city-form, and daily life, a mark of the ‘local’ in the ‘global.’ Written by experts in their respective fields and geographical areas, this unique collection of essays is unified by the editorial guidance provided by Andreas Huyssen, who has adroitly organized the book as a primer in the cultural analysis of worldwide economic transformation.”—Anthony Vidler, author of Histories of the Immediate Present: Inventing Architectural ModernismTable of ContentsAcknowledgments vii Introduction: World Cultures, World Cities / Andreas Huyssen 1 Latin America Cultural Landscapes: Buenos Aires from Integration to Fracture / Beatriz Sarlo 27 From Modernism to Neoliberalism in São Paulo: Reconfiguring the City and Its Citizens / Teresa P. R. Caldeira 51 Mexico City, 2010: Improvising Globalization / Néstor García Canclini 79 Africa The Last Shall Be First: African Urbanites and the Larger Urban World / AbdouMaliq Simone 99 Unsettling Johannesburg: The Country in the City / Hilton Judin 121 Mega-exhibitions: The Antinomies of a Transnational Global Form / Okwui Enwezor 147 Asia Mumbai: The Modern City in Ruins / Gyan Prakash 181 Negotiating the Static and Kinetic Cities: The Emergent Urbanism of Mumbai / Rahul Mehrotra 205 Remapping Beijing: Polylocality, Globalization, Cinema / Yingjin Zhang 219 Faking Globalization / Ackbar Abbas 243 Middle East Two Dreams in a Global City: Class and Space in Urban Egypt / Farha Ghannam 267 Hüzün—Melancholy—Tristesse of Istanbul / Orhan Pamuk 289 Bibliography 307 Contributors 321 Index 325

Read more less

Book SynopsisJohannesburg is Africa's premier metropolis. This work reassesses classic theories of metropolitan modernity as it explores the experience of 'citiness' and urban life in post-apartheid South Africa. This work includes an ethnographic examination of friction zones and practices of social reproduction in inner-city Johannesburg.Trade Review“An extraordinary exploration of what is so often left out of accounts about cities: what is beneath and what is at the edge. It goes where much of the urban scholarship leaves off or, rather, trails off. The authors’ project to write Johannesburg into today’s history will serve as a compass to enable researchers and writers to engage other cities that have been left out of history or given a narrow colonial presence.”—Saskia Sassen, author of Territory, Authority, Rights: From Medieval to Global Assemblages“Taken together, the essays in Johannesburg: The Elusive Metropolis offer radically new ways of thinking about this complex city, as well as many hints about emerging or re-emerging cities elsewhere. The essays challenge dominant models of urbanism and demonstrate with force and subtlety how African cities in general and Johannesburg in particular outpace urban theory. Each essay ‘de-scribes’ the city now in order to envision the city to come. In this volume, we hear—over the droning clichés that still circulate about the African city’s ruin and decadence—another note, another cadence.”—Ackbar Abbas, author of Hong Kong: Culture and the Politics of DisappearanceTable of ContentsAcknowledgments vii Introduction: Afropolis / Achille Mbembe and Sarah Nuttall 1 1. Aesthetics of Superfluity / Achille Mbembe 37 2. People as Infrastructure / Abdoumaliq Simone 68 3. Stylizing the Self / Sarah Nuttall 91 4. Gandhi, Mandela, and the African Modern / Jonathan Hyslop 119 5. Art Johannesburg and Its Objects / David Bunn 137 6. The Suffering Body of the City / Frédéric Le Marcis 170 7. Literary City / Sarah Nuttall 195 Voice Lines Instant City / John Matshikiza 221 Soweto Now / Achille Mbembe, Nsizwa Dlamini, and Grace Khunou 239 The Arrivants / Tom Odhiambo and Robert Muponde 248 Johannesburg, Metropolis of Mozambique / Stefan Helgesson 259 Sounds in the City / Xavier Livermon 271 Nocturnal Johannesburg / Julia Hornberger 285 Megamalls, Generic City / Fred De Vries 297 Yeoville Confidential / Achal Prabhala 307 From the Ruins / Mark Gevisser 317 Reframing Township Space / Lindsay Bremner 337 Afterword: The Risk of Johannesburg / Arjun Appadurai and Carol A. Breckenridge 349 Bibliography 355 Contributors 375 Index

Read more less

Book SynopsisExamines the development of urban environments, and urban environmentalism, in the United States over four centuries. This book focuses on the evolution of the city, the emergence of elite reformers, the framing of environmental problems, and responses to perceived breakdowns in social order.Trade Review“Taylor has gleaned profound insights from the social sciences and humanities to weave them into this superbly written tour de force on environmental and social justice in the urban US. . . . In short, this is the best account of urban ecology that has come out in the past two decades. . . . [T]his magnum opus has the makings of a classic that is destined to be one of the most referenced volumes of our times. Essential.” - T. Niazi, Choice“. . . [A] major contribution to the history of American environmentalism and American social history in general. . . . [Taylor’s] insights require serious engagement by every student of American environmentalism.” - Kimberly K. Smith, Journal of Environmental Studies and Sciences“Dorceta Taylor’s impressive work not only more than fulfils an expectation to learn about how American cities and urban environmentalism emerged, but it contextualises these developments through some important and often neglected lenses. . . . Taylor’s work is a valuable companion to studying the sociology of urban environmentalism, today and in the past.” - Stewart Barr, Urban Studies“Taylor has written an important overview of what cities have faced from anenvironmental perspective, and readers from many different disciplines will find much to ponder.” - Lisa Keller, The Historian“The Environment and the People in American Cities is one of those great and versatile books that any environmental social scientist would want to have sitting on her shelf. I have read many books on related topics over the years and I can’t recall any other that does anything like this one. By focusing on racial, ethnic, and class issues as they play out in the urban landscape, against such backdrops as public health concerns, parks, and industrial workplaces, Dorceta E. Taylor makes a major contribution. I’ll never view my urban surroundings in quite the same way again.”—Valerie Gunter, coauthor of Volatile Places: A Sociology of Communities and Environmental Controversies“All future research on environmentalism and social change will have to reference The Environment and the People in American Cities. It is a pathbreaking, first-rate work of scholarship. As the first scholar to consider the relationship between social inequality and conservation issues within such an inclusive framework, Dorceta E. Taylor makes stunning links between the terrain of contemporary environmental and social-justice conflicts and those of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries.”—David Pellow, author of Garbage Wars: The Struggle for Environmental Justice in Chicago“Dorceta E. Taylor has set out to write nothing short of a ‘People’s Environmental History of American Cities.’ At the core of her social history are inequalities based on race, gender, class, and ethnicity, as wealthy white elites shaped access to housing, workplaces, parks and even cemeteries to their wishes, at the expense of everyone else. Taylor’s book is a call for broader perspectives on environmental issues, to include segregation, labor market and workplace dynamics, social movements, politics, and social control. A magnum opus chock full of fascinating details of an untold history of the environmental injustices at the root of our society.”—Timmons Roberts, Director of the Center for Environmental Studies, Brown University“[A] major contribution to the history of American environmentalism and American social history in general. . . . [Taylor’s] insights require serious engagement by every student of American environmentalism.” -- Kimberly K. Smith * Journal of Environmental Studies and Sciences *“Dorceta Taylor’s impressive work not only more than fulfils an expectation to learn about how American cities and urban environmentalism emerged, but it contextualises these developments through some important and often neglected lenses. . . . Taylor’s work is a valuable companion to studying the sociology of urban environmentalism, today and in the past.” -- Stewart Barr * Urban Studies *“Taylor has gleaned profound insights from the social sciences and humanities to weave them into this superbly written tour de force on environmental and social justice in the urban US. . . . In short, this is the best account of urban ecology that has come out in the past two decades. . . . [T]his magnum opus has the makings of a classic that is destined to be one of the most referenced volumes of our times. Essential.” -- T. Niazi * Choice *“Taylor has written an important overview of what cities have faced from an environmental perspective, and readers from many different disciplines will find much to ponder.” -- Lisa Keller * The Historian *Table of ContentsFigures, Tables, and Boxes ix Acknowledgments xi Introduction 1 Part I. The Condition of the City 41 1. The Evolution of the City 43 2. Epidemics, Cities, and Environmental Reform 69 Part II. Reforming the City 113 3. Wealthy Urbanites: Fleeing Downtown and Privatizing Green Space 115 4. Social Inequality and the Quest for Order in the City 131 5. Data Gathering as a Mechanism for Understanding the City and Imposing Order 181 6. Sanitation and Housing Reform 199 Part III. Urban Park, Order, and Social Reform 221 7. Conceptualizing and Framing Urban Parks 223 8. Elite Ideology, Activism, and Park Development 251 9. Social Class, Activism, and Park Use 296 10. Contemporary Efforts to Finance Urban Parks 338 Part IV. The Rise of Comprehensive Zoning 365 11. Class, Race, Space, and Zoning in America 367 12. Land Use and Zoning in American Cities 380 Part V. Reforming the Workplace and Reducing Community Hazards 405 13. Workplace and Community Hazards 407 14. The Industrial Workplace 446 Conclusion 501 Notes 507 Index 603

Read more less

Book SynopsisA vivid ethnography of social movements in the barrios, or poor shantytowns, of Caracas, Venezuela.Trade Review“In the Spirit of Negro Primero is a marvelous contribution to the literature on social movements, neoliberalism, cultural politics, and Venezuela. While most analyses of the country portray Hugo Chávez as either a liberating figure fighting neoliberalism to help the poor, or an authoritarian caudillo preserving his own power while destroying liberties and human rights, Sujatha Fernandes goes far beyond such polarities. By concentrating on the experiences of poor activists in Caracas, she provides a unique and nuanced perspective on a complicated political process, and reveals the Chávez government as much more complicated and interesting than most other scholars have allowed.”—Nancy Postero, author of Now We Are Citizens: Indigenous Politics in Post-Multicultural Bolivia“Too much of the scholarly and political writing on the Venezuelan government centers on President Hugo Chávez and his style and rhetoric. In this original, timely, and important book, Sujatha Fernandes focuses on the barrio residents who form the social base of the Chávista movement. Along the way, she demonstrates a detailed understanding of Venezuela’s culture and recent political history.”—Steve Ellner, author of Rethinking Venezuelan Politics: Class, Conflict, and the Chávez Phenomenon“[A]n excellent, well-written, and engaging work of activist scholarship. It provides not only rich empirical data, but also theoretical insights on some of the key issues confronted by contemporary Latin American social activists. This book is highly recommended for scholars and activists with an interest in social movements and Latin America.” -- Lynn Horton * Contemporary Sociology *“[T]his book certainly adds a flavorful icing, one that is certainly long overdue and more than welcome, to the existing literature on Venezuela.” -- J. Michael Ryan * Anthropological Quarterly *“Fernandes forges a new and promising analytical approach to the study of social movements: that of examining the 'everyday wars of position.' … If others take up Fernandes’s research agenda, we will be rewarded with greater insight into the dynamics of contention within clientelism and revolution.” -- Leslie C. Gates * Perspectives on Politics *“This book is a must read for scholars interested in Venezuela, as [Fernandes] provides an historical account of the growth of Caracas and the relationship between barrio residents and the state over time. The book would also be excellent for a graduate course on social movements or social change, as well as in a methods course on ethnography as a beautiful example of how to weave together ethnographic and interview data to provide a vivid and intellectually engaging work of scholarship.” -- Tiffany Linton Page * Social Forces *“This well written and interesting book captures quite a lot about the ambiguities of urban politics, and the conditions of barrio life, in Caracas. . . . The book could certainly be recommended to students with some assurance that they would enjoy reading it. They will learn from it at the same time.” -- George Philip * Bulletin of Latin American Research *“Fernandes elegantly places the struggles of the local poor in a larger political framework to allow readers to understand how residents make their own history by negotiating their post-neoliberal visions with their current social circumstances. Recommended.” -- J. M. Santos-Hernindez * CHOICE *“Sujatha Fernandes reveals a world of activism deeply influenced by the history of Left movements in Latin America, but vulnerable to the kind of technocratic, bottom-line reasoning regrettably necessary for the state's economic success.” -- Nicholas Gamso * Social Text *Table of ContentsList of Illustrations Acknowledgments Introduction I. Individual and Collective Histories 1. Urban Political Histories 2. Poverty, Violence, and the Neoliberal Turn 3. Personal Lives II. Everyday Life and Politics 4. Culture, Identity, and Urban Movements 5. Barrio-Based Media and Communications 6. The Takeover of the Alameda Theater III. State-Society Mediation 7. The New Coalitional Politics of Social Movements Conclusion Notes Bibliography Index

Read more less

Book SynopsisA powerful critique of urban development in greater Johannesburg since the end of apartheid in 1994.Trade Review“In this meticulously researched account of Johannesburg’s socio-spatial history, Martin J. Murray gets beneath the surface of the city’s chaotic present to discover the inertia of long-term deployments. He finds that ingrained habits of urban planning and real estate entrepreneurship have always been mobilized in the city as twin mechanisms of change and renewal across moments of territorial mutation. This exposes post-apartheid transformation as a rearticulation of old orders and habits and makes an important contribution to revising the idea of a decisive historical rupture at the end of apartheid.”—Lindsay Bremner, Professor of Architecture, Tyler School of Art, Temple University“Martin J. Murray navigates the slippery interfaces where mega-development, social progress, dystopian dread, racial enclaving, and mobilities of all kinds intersect, revealing both the alarming disposition of Africa’s most heterogeneous city and a rough-hewn humanity despite the odds. At each step, Murray is precise and impassioned in this no-holds-barred analysis of the lengths to which politicians, business people, planners, entrepreneurs, and developers will go to hold a city down.”—AbdouMaliq Simone, author of For the City Yet to Come: Changing African Life in Four Cities“This is a book that should be read with attentiveness. It traces the lines of a city in which profound daily violence and suffering coexist with theatrical excess. It shows in convincing breadth that although the living conditions of suburban enclaves and those who dwell in abandoned buildings of the inner city may be ‘worlds apart,’ they are also closely connected to one another, and part of the same historical and economic processes.” -- Matthew Wilhelm-Solomon * Mail & Guardian *“The political, economic, and social tensions that have accompanied the city’s everchanging urban landscape are on display in this well-researched and penetrating work. . . . City of Extremes is a significant and helpful resource for the study of cities in an era of globalization and urbanization.” -- Travis Vaughn * International Bulletin of Missionary Research * “[A]n excellent addition to the literature on Johannesburg, and a must-read book for all serious scholars with an interest in the City of Gold.” -- Keith Beavon * Comparativ *Table of ContentsList of Maps vii List of Illustrations ix Preface xi Acknowledgments xxvii Abbreviations xxxi Introduction. Spatial Politics in the Precarious City 1 Part I 23 Making Space: City Building and the Production of the Built Enivronment 1. The Restless Urban Landscape: The Evolving Spatial Geography of Johannesburg 29 2. The Flawed Promise of the High-Modernist City: City Building at the Apex of Apartheid Rule 59 Part II 83 Unraveling Space: Centrifugal Urbanism and the Convulsive City 3. Hollowing out the Center: Johannesburg Turned Inside Out 87 4. Worlds Apart: The Johannesburg Inner City and the Making of the Outcast Ghetto 137 5. The Splintering Metropolis: Laissez-faire Urbanism and Unfettered Suburban Sprawl 173 Part III 205 Fortifying Space: Siege Architecture and Anxious Urbanism 6. Defensive Urbanism after Apartheid: Spatial Partitioning and the New Fortification Aesthetic 213 7. Entrepreneurial Urbanism and the Private City 245 8. Reconciling Arcadia and Utopia: Gated Residential Estates at the Metropolitan Edge 283 Epilogue. Putting Johannesburg in Its Place: The Ordinary City 321 Appendix 333 Notes 337 Bibliography 423 Index 463

Read more less

Book SynopsisAnthropologists and historians examine how postwar violence in Guatemala City is reconfiguring urban space, transforming the relationship between city and country, and exacerbating structures of inequality and ethnic discrimination.Trade Review“This book makes a valuable contribution to the emerging anthropological literature on the social and cultural dimensions of neoliberal restructuring. Its vivid chapters both show us what neoliberalism ‘looks like’ in Guatemala and invite us to think about how we might pursue a broader discussion about topics (violence, crime, security, urban space) that cut across regions and demand a global and relational analysis. An impressive collection.”—James Ferguson, author of Global Shadows: Africa in the Neoliberal World Order“Together these chapters unsettle easy binaries and simplified notions of victimhood. The city and countryside shape each other far more than is often stated. And vulnerable city residents act on urban space to make it theirs again. The editors’ introduction is a forceful theoretical and empirical reframing of the usual representations of the miseries of the poor in the city. They succeed in making the study of Guatemala City a lens into a broader Latin American history.”—Saskia Sassen, author of Territory, Authority, Rights: From Medieval to Global Assemblages“The editors of Securing the City are to be applauded for working to shatter common narratives that pin the blame for Guatemala’s urban violence on ‘delinquents,’ urban gangs, rural lynch mobs, or other such bogeymen. The work also dismantles the imagined boundaries between city and country, and for this it merits praise.” -- Kirsten Weld * ReVista *"[A] unique piece of work that provides an interesting corrective to the majority of literature on Guatemala that focuses on rural, indigenous issues…. These essays are drawn together by, and provide an important contribution to, the ethnographic exploration of space, identity, and the economic opportunity structure (or lack thereof) as shaped by contemporary neoliberal policy, discourse, and practice." -- James H. McDonald * Ethnohistory *“As a whole and as individual chapters, this book delivers what many others promise but never do; that is, to describe, analyse and explain the grassroots and everyday experiences and practices of neoliberalism, violence and security. In some ways, the Guatemalan context is irrelevant as the wider processes that affect many countries of the world today come to the fore. Yet in other ways, this is one of the most interesting books about Guatemala available today; it challenges many preconceived ideas about the country, about its indigenous population, about the nature and causes of violence and insecurity, and about the formation of porous and contested urban space.” -- Cathy McIlwaine * Journal of Latin American Studies *“An important contribution to the growing field of urban studies and in/security and would work well on the curriculum of a class on urban studies...it provides a refreshing addition to the literature on the segregation of social lives in so-called postmodern cities.” -- Regnar Kristensen * Ethnos *“Securing the City addresses both a timely topic (Guatemala's spectacular levels of personal and community insecurity) and a highly under-ethnographed region (in anthropologist-saturated Guatemala!), Guatemala City…. The editors have done us a great service in making more of Spanish anthropologist Manuela Camus's groundbreaking research on urban Maya available in English.” -- Abigail Adam * EIAL *Table of ContentsAcknowledgments vii Securing the City: An Introduction / Kedron Thomas, Kevin Lewis O'Neill, and Thomas Offit 1 Part One: Urban History and Social Experience Living Guatemala City, 1930s–2000s / Deborah Levenson 25 Primero de Julio: Urban Experiences of Class Decline and Violence / Manuela Camus 49 Cacique for a Neoliberal Age: A Maya Retail Empire on the Streets of Guatemala City / Thomas Offit 67 Privatization of Public Sphere: The Displacement of Street Vendors in Guatemala City / Rodrigo J. Véliz and Kevin Lewis O'Neill 83 Part Two: Guatemala City and Country The Security Guard Industry in Guatemala: Rural Communities and Urban Violence / Avery Dickins de Girón 103 Guatemala's New Violence as Structural Violence: Notes from the Highlands / Peter Benson, Kedron Thomas, and Edward F. Fischer 127 Spaces of Structural Adjustment in Guatemala's Apparel Industry / Kedron Thomas 147 Hands of Love: Christian Outreach and the Spatialization of Ethnicity / Kevin Lewis O'Neill 165 References 193 Contributors 213 Index 215

Read more less

Book SynopsisLooks at portrayals of Havana in literature, music, and the visual arts in the post-Soviet era, as the city is reinvented as a destination for international tourists and business ventures.Trade Review“... an interesting addition to work on the city of Havana.” - Guy Baron, Bulletin of Spanish Studies“[E]specially timely…. These essays by architects, historians, cultural critics, sociologists, photographers, and writers from the island and beyond yield a variety of perspectives, reflecting competing visions for Havana’s present and future.” - Rachel Price, Literature and Arts of the Americas“All in all, this book should be considered an exploratory account that will hopefully incite more anthropologists to investigate the current transformations of Havana, arguably the Latin American capital of the 20th century.” - MARIAN VIOREL ANASTASOAIE, Social Anthropology“A superb collection of provocative, wide-ranging essays on what used to be, and soon will be again, America’s favorite foreign city. The distinguished contributors—the Havana All-Stars—explore the body and soul of the Cuban capital with passion and insight.”—Gustavo Pérez Firmat, author of The Havana Habit“An eloquent, urgent, and riveting account of Havana today and where it might be tomorrow. This anthology brings together an incredible range of thoughtful observers, all of whom adore this gorgeous tropical metropolis, ravished by the sea and by history. Congratulations to Anke Birkenmaier and Esther Whitfield for the gift of this book, which is certain to become a classic.”—Ruth Behar, author of An Island Called Home: Returning to Jewish Cuba“[An] interesting addition to work on the city of Havana.” -- Guy Baron * Bulletin of Spanish Studies *“[E]specially timely…. These essays by architects, historians, cultural critics, sociologists, photographers, and writers from the island and beyond yield a variety of perspectives, reflecting competing visions for Havana’s present and future.” -- Rachel Price * Literature and Arts of the Americas *Table of ContentsPreface Introduction: Beyond the Ruins / Anke Birkenmaier and Esther Whitfield Part I. Mapping Havana: Citizenship and the City 1. Visits to a Non-Place: Havana and Its Representation(s) / Velia Cecilia Bobes; 2. The Bitter Trinquennium and the Dystopian City: Autopsy of a Utopia / Mario Coyula; 3. Barbacoas: Havana's New Inward Frontier / Patricio Del Real and Joseph Scarpaci; 4. The "Slums" of Havana / Jill Hamberg; 5. Havana and Its Landscapes: A Vision for Future Reconstruction of Cuban Cities / Nicolas Quintana; 6. The Illegible City: Havana after the Messiah / Rafael Rojas A Photo-Essay: Havana / Orlando Luis Pardo Lazo Part II. Havana's Shifting Margins 7. The City in Midair / Emma Alvarez-Tabio Albo; 8. Made in Havana City: Rap Music, Space, and Racial Politics / Sujatha Fernandes; 9. Urban Performance Pieces in Fragmented Form: A Reading of Pedro Juan Gutierrez and Antonio Jose Ponte / Cecelia Lawless; 10. Topographies of Cosmonauts in Havana: Proyecto Vostok and Insausti's Existen / Jacqueline Loss 11. Touring Havana in the Work of Ronaldo Menendez / Laura Redruello Part III. Coda 12. La Habana: City and Archive / Antonio Jose Ponte; 13. Bitter Daiquiris: A Crystal Chronicle / Jose Quiroga Glossary; References; Contributors; Index

Read more less

Book SynopsisLooks at portrayals of Havana in literature, music, and the visual arts in the post-Soviet era, as the city is reinvented as a destination for international tourists and business ventures.Trade Review“... an interesting addition to work on the city of Havana.” - Guy Baron, Bulletin of Spanish Studies“[E]specially timely…. These essays by architects, historians, cultural critics, sociologists, photographers, and writers from the island and beyond yield a variety of perspectives, reflecting competing visions for Havana’s present and future.” - Rachel Price, Literature and Arts of the Americas“All in all, this book should be considered an exploratory account that will hopefully incite more anthropologists to investigate the current transformations of Havana, arguably the Latin American capital of the 20th century.” - MARIAN VIOREL ANASTASOAIE, Social Anthropology“A superb collection of provocative, wide-ranging essays on what used to be, and soon will be again, America’s favorite foreign city. The distinguished contributors—the Havana All-Stars—explore the body and soul of the Cuban capital with passion and insight.”—Gustavo Pérez Firmat, author of The Havana Habit“An eloquent, urgent, and riveting account of Havana today and where it might be tomorrow. This anthology brings together an incredible range of thoughtful observers, all of whom adore this gorgeous tropical metropolis, ravished by the sea and by history. Congratulations to Anke Birkenmaier and Esther Whitfield for the gift of this book, which is certain to become a classic.”—Ruth Behar, author of An Island Called Home: Returning to Jewish Cuba“[An] interesting addition to work on the city of Havana.” -- Guy Baron * Bulletin of Spanish Studies *“[E]specially timely…. These essays by architects, historians, cultural critics, sociologists, photographers, and writers from the island and beyond yield a variety of perspectives, reflecting competing visions for Havana’s present and future.” -- Rachel Price * Literature and Arts of the Americas *Table of ContentsPreface Introduction: Beyond the Ruins / Anke Birkenmaier and Esther Whitfield Part I. Mapping Havana: Citizenship and the City 1. Visits to a Non-Place: Havana and Its Representation(s) / Velia Cecilia Bobes; 2. The Bitter Trinquennium and the Dystopian City: Autopsy of a Utopia / Mario Coyula; 3. Barbacoas: Havana's New Inward Frontier / Patricio Del Real and Joseph Scarpaci; 4. The "Slums" of Havana / Jill Hamberg; 5. Havana and Its Landscapes: A Vision for Future Reconstruction of Cuban Cities / Nicolas Quintana; 6. The Illegible City: Havana after the Messiah / Rafael Rojas A Photo-Essay: Havana / Orlando Luis Pardo Lazo Part II. Havana's Shifting Margins 7. The City in Midair / Emma Alvarez-Tabio Albo; 8. Made in Havana City: Rap Music, Space, and Racial Politics / Sujatha Fernandes; 9. Urban Performance Pieces in Fragmented Form: A Reading of Pedro Juan Gutierrez and Antonio Jose Ponte / Cecelia Lawless; 10. Topographies of Cosmonauts in Havana: Proyecto Vostok and Insausti's Existen / Jacqueline Loss 11. Touring Havana in the Work of Ronaldo Menendez / Laura Redruello Part III. Coda 12. La Habana: City and Archive / Antonio Jose Ponte; 13. Bitter Daiquiris: A Crystal Chronicle / Jose Quiroga Glossary; References; Contributors; Index

Read more less

Book SynopsisThis twentieth-century history of Guatemala begins with an analysis of the Grand Tikal Futura, a postmodern shopping mall with a faux-Mayan facade that is surrounded by a landscape of gated subdivisions, evangelical churches, motels, Kaqchikel-speaking villages, and some of the most poverty-stricken ghettos in the hemisphere.Trade Review“The quirky mind of J. T. Way reveals a Guatemala not even seasoned hands are likely to recognize, one deformed by development in myriad modernist guise, a curse to most of its citizens, the blessing of a venal few.”—W. George Lovell, Queen’s University, Canada"Finally, a history of Guatemala City, a place that most scholars flee from despite its centrality to Guatemala's history. J. T. Way has unearthed a wealth of material from archival, literary, and oral sources. In striking and vibrant detail, he skillfully traces the history of neighborhoods and individuals from the first half of the twentieth century to today and he uses this history to open up a remarkable and original discussion of the play of ethnicity and modernity in the making of a cultural texture and urban political economy that uses the 'Mayan' in the absence of Mayas, or worse, in the presence of their oppression. The Mayan in the Mall brings to life the city's residents in this 'society of vendors' and simultaneously delivers a devastating and brilliant critique of development."—Deborah T. Levenson, coeditor of The Guatemala Reader: History, Culture, Politics“This is an excellent book, in part because it is a thoroughly researched consideration of the relationship between poverty, development, the trajectory of politics in Guatemala, and real life. But its excellence is also rooted in the author's success in writing a study infusing observations born of scholarly research with a heartfelt and sharply phrased c ritique that moves beyond a clichéd academic celebration of radical politics. . . . Highly recommended. All academic levels/libraries.“ -- J. M. Rosenthal * Choice *“The shift away from the highlands indigenous communities that have generally attracted North American scholarly attention opens a novel perspective on the making of what Way calls the ‘manmade ruin’ of Guatemala’s contemporary social and physical landscape.” -- Carlota McAllister * American Historical Review *“Both scholarly and highly personal, J. T. Way’s book is too rich in original insights, skillfully developed examples, and provocative arguments to do it full justice in so short a space. It is enough to state that it should be required reading for anyone interested in Guatemala’s recent history. Also, it is highly recommended to all students of development and modernization in general.” -- Stephen Webre * Hispanic American Historical Review *“…[A] fascinating narrative that complicates both sequence and chronology by weaving the hitherto hidden logic of everyday survival and resistance with the ‘rational’ logic of a demythologized and demystified ‘modernity.’” -- Susan A. Berger * Journal of Interdisciplinary History *“The Mayan in the Mall is a complex and admirable work that explores how the violent world inhabited by Guatemala's poor majority came into being…. Way's combination of empathy and hard-bitten realism gives an incomparable view of how people live their lives when choices are few and opportunity is infinitesimal.” -- Cyrus Veeser * Business History Review *“The strength of The Mayan in the Mall resonates from the author's use of personal stories to illustrate broader themes, his attention to metaphor, and his dialectical contemplation…. [T]his book will certainly appeal to scholars of Guatemala as the first English-language history of its capital city in addition to general readers of urban studies.” -- Michael D. Kirkpatrick * Canadian Journal of History *“I suggest that The Mayan in the Mall should be placed at the top of the reading list of all visitors to Guatemala—professionals and, in particular, us 'Maya specialists' and tourists alike.” -- Jessica Joyce Christie * Ethnohistory *“Scholars interested in urban history, gender history, and the history of development will find Way’s book enlightening and at times evocative in its treatment of Guatemala’s turbulent history. They will discover a well-researched work that sketches the interrelationships between urban growth, state formation, and capitalism.” -- Bonar L. Hernandez * The Americas *“The Mayan in the Mall, provides a welcome history of the making of modern Guatemala since the 1920s that innovatively melds historical research with analysis of contemporary cultural trends and ethnography. The author seamlessly narrates Guatemala’s conflicted past and fraught present through the stories of its diverse protagonists, whether using historical records, oral histories, or contemporary interviews and observations. The book deftly shows how larger structures and politics (from regional to national to transnational) impinged on everyday lives as everyday people like butchers, social workers, vendors, and activists also actively shaped the unfolding of history and the particular geography of Guatemala.” -- Rebecca Galemba * The Latin Americanist *Table of ContentsList of Illustrations Acknowledgments ix Introduction. Grand Tikal Futura: "Put1. "Like Sturdy Little Animals": Making the Modern Anti-Modern, 1920s–1944ting the Mayan in the Mall" 1 1. "Like Sturdy Little Animals": Making the Modern Anti-Modern, 1920s–1944 13 2. Chaos and Rationality: The Dialectic of the Guatemalan Ghetto 41 3. Oficios de su Sexo: Gender, the Informal Economy, and Anticommunist Development 67 4. Making the Immoral Metropolis: Infrastructure, Economics, and War 94 5. Executing Capital: Green Revolution, Genocide, and the Transition to Neoliberalism 124 6. A Society of Vendors: Contradictions and Everyday Life in the Guatemalan Market 152 7. Cuatro Gramos Norte: Fragmentation and Concentration in the Wake of Victory 181 Appendix. A Grass-roots List of Transnationals in Guatemala, circa 1978 210 Notes 217 Glossary 277 Bibliography 279 Index 301

Read more less

Book SynopsisAdding to the growing body of scholarship on the long civil rights struggle.Trade Review"Andor Skotnes' argument—that the labor and freedom movements in Baltimore were connected in interesting and complex ways during the critical period under discussion—is intellectually sound and quite innovative. Well researched and cogently argued, A New Deal for All? details and analyzes the political relationships between these two movements with enormous skill. Skotnes demonstrates that it was the most radical elements of the workers' movement who pressed a principled antiracist agenda, thereby creating a wedge into the pervasive racism of the time."—Linda Shopes, coeditor of The Baltimore Book: New Views of Local History"In this creative account, Andor Skotnes convincingly places Baltimore in the 'long civil rights movement' as he deftly unravels the complex connections between race and class in an urban setting. His original use of oral history enriches his narrative and enhances our understanding of the compelling struggles for freedom and justice in the 1930s."—Jo Ann E. Argersinger, author of Making the Amalgamated: Gender, Ethnicity, and Class in the Baltimore Clothing Industry, 1899–1939“A New Deal for All? is an insightful…study of obscure but influential activism in the Depression…. Skotnes reminds us that scarcity can produce vibrant activism and a new sense of the possible.” -- Will Cooley * History: Reviews of New Books *"The arguments persuasively advanced in A New Deal for All? will be of particular interest to historians of the 'long civil rights movement,' trade union development, and radical politics." -- Roger Biles * Journal of American History *“[T]his book… contributes to the body of scholarship illuminating the early years of the “long civil rights movement”…. Among the book’s distinctions is its use of oral history, and the interviews Andor Skotnes conducted especially enliven descriptions of the people and events that comprised the Baltimore freedom movement.” -- Eben Miller * American Historical Review *" . . . A New Deal for All provides an important contribution to the study of race and labour during the Depression." -- Christopher Powell * Labour/Le Travail *"Through effective uses of sources, especially oral histories, Skotnes interweaves fascinating individual and organizational historical narratives . . . what is most useful is Skotnes's ability to make visible the multiple lines connecting these campaigns and organizations." -- Keona Ervin * Journal of Southern History *“The most significant contribution of A New Deal for All? is its detailed accounting of the groups that engendered early 1930s activism…. The book is well written and keeps the reader's interest with its arresting accounts of local activists.” -- Theodore Rosenof * History Teacher *"A New Deal for All? is a valuable and important study of race, labor, and social activism that fills a significant gap by meticulous­ly charting the critically important, but previously overlooked, history of Baltimore's freedom struggle. Well written and provocative." -- David Goldberg * Journal of African American History *Table of ContentsAbout the Series vii Illustrations ix Abbreviations xi Acknowledgments xiii Introduction 3 I. The Context 1. Communities, Culture, and Traditions of Opposition 11 II. Emergences, 1930–1934 2. Disrupting the Calm: The Communist Party in Baltimore, 1930–1933 45 3. The City-Wide Young People's Forum, 1931–1933 69 4. Garment Workers, Socialists, and the People's Unemployment League, 1932–1934 92 III. Transitions, 1933–1936 5. The Lynching of George Armwood, 1933 119 6. Buy Where You Can Work, 1933–1934 140 7. The Baltimore Soviet, the ACW, and the PUL, 1933–1935 163 8. Seeking Directions, 1934–1936 187 IV. Risings, 1936–1941 9. The CIO and the First Wave, 1936–1937 215 10. The CIO, the AFL, and the Baltimore Workers' Movement: The Second Wave, 1938–1941 245 11. The New Baltimore NAACP and the Metropolitan Region, 1936–1941 269 12. The New Baltimore NAACP and the State and the Country, 1936–1941 290 Epilogue 313 Notes 319 Bibliography 353 Index 365

Read more less

Book SynopsisSoo Ah Kwon explores youth of color activism, focusing on the political conditions that enable—and limit—youth of color from achieving meaningful change given the entrenchment of nonprofits within the logic of the neoliberal state.Trade Review"Providing a model of activist ethnographic research, Soo Ah Kwon constructively engages with the activism of the youth of color whom she studies without oversimplifying the contradictory circumstances within which they work. Kwon respects their intellectual analyses and political contributions. At the same time, she demonstrates that youth organizing is often shaped by the very discourses that it seeks to resist. Uncivil Youth is a compelling examination of the intersections of youth organizing, governmentality, and the 'nonprofit industrial complex.'"—Andrea Smith, author of Native Americans and the Christian Right: The Gendered Politics of Unlikely Alliances"This is a wonderful ethnographic study of Asian and Pacific Islander youth activism in Oakland and the youth organizing movement that has been likened to a 'new civil rights movement.' Soo Ah Kwon astutely uncovers what makes possible the 'power of the youth' at a moment when grassroots organizing has been reshaped by nonprofit organizations and neoliberal governance. The book interrogates how the category of 'youth of color' has been absorbed into depoliticized programs for self-help, as well as how young activists challenge the state's discourse of democratic citizenship and the criminalization of immigrant and refugee youth. This is a must-read for scholars, students, youth workers, activists, and general audiences alike."—Sunaina Marr Maira, author of Missing: Youth, Citizenship, and Empire after 9/11“In this definitive text examining youth engagement among Asian American youth, Kwon (Univ. of Illinois) takes readers on an ethnographic journey to explore afterschool initiatives and other community-based projects, and shows how these initiatives serve as protective factors against juvenile delinquency. . . . Highly recommended.” -- D. E. Kelly * Choice *“This book would be very well placed on advanced undergraduate or Masters’ programmes’ reading lists—as much for the substantive content as for Kwon’s approach, style and appreciative analysis. The latter will doubtless generate excellent student discussions. For the rest of us, and particularly those interested in subjectification processes, the concept of citizenship or youth justice, this is definitely one to read.” -- Jo Phoenix * British Journal of Criminology *“Kwon’s investigation is an elegantly reasoned, well supported, and exceedingly timely intervention into contemporary scholarship on activism and youth. Her smart historicization of the state’s interest in youth and her interdisciplinary exploration of systems of power and youth organizing make this book an important critique of and addition to bodies of scholarship invested in examining activism, neoliberalism, citizenship, race, and social justice.” -- Anne Mai Yee Jansen * Journal of Asian American Studies *“As an academic, theoretical work, Kwon’s book is excellent. It is extremely well-grounded in literature from a variety of social sciences and raises provocative questions that we, as a society, should be asking ourselves. How do we view youth of color? How do we define at-risk youth, and why? What are the ethics around current immigration law, and how does this impact the next generation? And, ultimately, are we truly preparing all youth to become good citizens in a democracy or are we leading them into activities that will leave them prematurely jaded about the process?” -- Edward Janak * Journal of American Culture *Table of ContentsAcknowledgments ix Introduction 1 1. Civilizing Youth against Delinquency 27 2. Youth Organizing and the Nonprofitization of Activism 45 3. Organizing against Youth Criminalization 73 4. Confronting the State 95 Conclusion 121 Notes 131 References 149 Index 165

Read more less

Book SynopsisThis ethnographic account of long-term recovery in post-Katrina New Orleans provides a sobering look at the fallout from the privatization of vital social services under neoliberal, or market-driven, governance.Trade Review"Markets of Sorrow, Labors of Faith is public anthropology at its finest. Vincanne Adams has written a devastating portrait of market failure in the wake of Hurricane Katrina, and a cautionary tale about what might happen if the private sector takes charge of the welfare state."—Eric Klinenberg, author of Heat Wave: A Social Autopsy of Disaster in Chicago"Everybody's disaster is somebody's good luck. As disaster capitalism becomes an ever larger segment of the post-climate-change economy, New Orleans provides a fundamental case history. Markets of Sorrow, Labors of Faith describes in damning detail what happens to the social contract when disaster means profit, with the markup paid in human suffering. Meanwhile, churches, charities, and volunteers add up to a big business of unpaid work. Vincanne Adams's feeling for how the soulful people of New Orleans created their own recoveries comes through on every page."—Ned Sublette, author of The World That Made New Orleans: From Spanish Silver to Congo Square"Vincanne Adams has given us a brilliant and poignant ethnographic account of post-Katrina New Orleans. This is an ambitious intervention not only in how we understand the iconic 'disaster' that is Katrina but also in how we understand neoliberalism writ large. Adams breaks new ground by showing how the making of market rule is entangled with endeavors of relief, humanitarianism, charity, welfare, and faith. This is not just the story of New Orleans; it is the story of aid and development everywhere. Markets of Sorrow, Labors of Faith is thus a model for social scientific inquiry in the twenty-first century."—Ananya Roy, author of Poverty Capital: Microfinance and the Making of Development“Markets of Sorrow, Labors of Faith offers a nuanced, sophisticated and long-term account of the misery faced by New Orleans residents in the years after the Hurricane Katrina disaster of 2005. . . . Adams’ rich description, plethora of personal interviews and close-knit observations provide insight into the impact of Hurricane Katrina in bringing to the forefront of debate the basic social, environmental and economic vulnerabilities that characterise US society.” -- Kevin Fox Gotham * Times Higher Education *“This work helpfully describes how not to handle a recovery. Recommended not only for Gulf Coast collections, but also for academic libraries supporting programs in public administration or emergency preparedness.” -- Sonnet Ireland * Library Journal *“Adams recounts heartbreaking stories of people stonewalled by Road Home, beset by depression and suicide, living rooms full of paperwork, still waiting for money promised to them. . . . In concert with the rest of the study, the two chapters on Road Home represent a true triumph of the potential of politically informed ethnography.” -- Thomas Jessen Adams * American Quarterly *“[T]his cautionary tale from New Orleans… provides intellectual tools for those who want to build 'another world' where meeting human need, not profit, becomes society’s organizing principle.” -- John Arena * Journal of Anthropological Research *“In the practice of public administration, we remain accountable for the responsibilities of government and the practice of public management. Transparency is paramount if the victims who become the consumers of aid relief are to retain faith in the equity and ethics of the process of crisis recovery. Markets of Sorrow, Labors of Faith is a book recommended for scholars and practitioners exploring the ethical dilemmas surrounding public management in the face of disaster.” -- Nicole L. Cline * Public Integrity *“This is public anthropology at its best, not only addressing core topics of our discipline but also illuminating social, economic and political issues that concern us all.” -- Stephan Kloos * Social Anthropology *Table of Contents1. It's Not about Katrina 1 2. The Making of a Disaster 22 3. "If This Could Happen to Us, It Could Happen to Anyone" 55 4. Navigating the Road Home 74 5. Getting to the Breaking Point 99 6. Faith in a Volunteer Recovery 126 7. Charity, Philanthrocapitalism, and the Affect Economy 153 8. Katrina as the Future 176 Acknowledgments 191 Notes 193 Bibliography 213 Index 225

Read more less

Book SynopsisFluid New York offers reflections on how New York began to incorporate the city's archipelago ecology into plans for a livable and sustainable future in the decade between September 11 and Hurricane Sandy.Trade Review“Joseph addresses vital topics like city planning for ecological sustainability and how the city must meet the needs of a heterogeneous population. . . . Joseph expresses both affection and concern for her city, highlighting both its creative potential and provincial hubris it must outgrow.” - Publishers Weekly“I relished Joseph’s vivid accounts of New Yorkers’ communal campaigns against the wanton destruction of urban green spaces that had been a source of pleasure, solace and inspiration to citizens for many decades. She demonstrates that environmental challenges bring people together, no matter how disparate and apparently divided the population of a large city may seem to be. . . . [I]t speaks powerfully to a critical moment in urban ecology.” - Laurence Coupe, Times Higher“A tour-de-force, Fluid New York should be read and absorbed by anyone interested in how urbanism has recently developed along with ecology and how it continues to evolve within an ecological context.” - Jim Elledge, The Mom Egg"Fluid New York is a beautifully written and conceived book. Based on rich ethnographic material, May Joseph develops a persuasive vision of New York as a city with an emerging culture of 'fluid urbanism.' Her compelling arguments offer a way to rethink space and performative cultures in cities such as Bangalore, Beijing, and Dar es Salaam, and to put New York in dialogue with those cities and their urbanisms. This is wonderful, vivid, and insightful work."—Smriti Srinivas, author of Landscapes of Urban Memory and In the Presence of Sai Baba"This important book illuminates new ideas that took hold of the bodies and minds of New Yorkers in the decade after September 11. May Joseph's New York is characterized by the radical implosion and intensification of global difference. Her narrative consistently gives voice to people who have always been present in New York but not often heard from."—Brian McGrath, Research Chair in Urban Design, Parsons The New School for Design"Gorgeously written and keenly observed, Joseph’s book evokes both the global and the local in her consideration of New York City’s evolving relationship to its waterfront. . . . This vast book and its singular story reveal the pleasures of cosmopolitan belonging, as well as the difficult measures that must be taken to preserve urban settings and citizens on a warming planet." -- Jennie Lightweis-Goff * Journal of American Culture *“Joseph addresses vital topics like city planning for ecological sustainability and how the city must meet the needs of a heterogeneous population. . . . Joseph expresses both affection and concern for her city, highlighting both its creative potential and provincial hubris it must outgrow.” * Publishers Weekly *“I relished Joseph’s vivid accounts of New Yorkers’ communal campaigns against the wanton destruction of urban green spaces that had been a source of pleasure, solace and inspiration to citizens for many decades. She demonstrates that environmental challenges bring people together, no matter how disparate and apparently divided the population of a large city may seem to be. . . . [I]t speaks powerfully to a critical moment in urban ecology." -- Laurence Coupe * Times Higher Education *“A tour-de-force, Fluid New York should be read and absorbed by anyone interested in how urbanism has recently developed along with ecology and how it continues to evolve within an ecological context.” -- Jim Elledge * Mom Egg Review *“Joseph’s work is highly creative and beautifully written. The book will be welcomed by scholars of urban studies especially those interested in cultural studies, citizenship studies and urban environmental history.” -- Anthony Levenda * Urban Studies *“Fluid New York would be useful in any course about the history of New York City. For scholars interested in how the environment shapes and is shaped by urban life and culture, Joseph’s book deepens our understanding.” -- Sean Singer * American Studies *“Fluid New York is an admirable study and I recommend it to readers who are interested in the green future of coastal cities.” -- William Kornblum * Contemporary Sociology *Table of ContentsIllustrations vii Acknowledgments ix Preface xi Prologue 1 Introduction 7 Part I. Fluid Urbanism 19 1. Water Ecology, Island City 23 2. Transoceanic New York, City of Rivers 35 3. The Maritime Sky of Manhattan 55 4. Thinking Metropolitanism 70 Part II. Cosmopolitan Frugality 93 5. Nomadic Urbanism and Frugality 95 6. Nyerere, the Dalai Lama, Gandhi: Cultures of Frugality 110 Part III. Ecological Expressivity 131 7. Greening Hardscape 133 8. Marathon City, Biking Boroughs 151 Part IV. Maritime Mentalities 167 9. Brooklyn Carnival and the Sale of Dreamland 169 10. Spirits of Necropolis, Planes on the Hudson 179 11. Governors Island: Maritime Pasts, Ecological Futures 189 12. After Hurricane Sandy 204 Conclusion: Toward a Praxis of Cosmopolitan Citizenship 211 Notes 213 Bibliography 231 Index 239

Read more less

Book SynopsisThis history explains how and why the favelas of Rio de Janeiro were able to resist demolition in the 1970s but succumbed to the drug wars of the 1980s and 1990s.Trade Review"Hard Times in the Marvelous City will be essential reading for anyone interested in Brazil's redemocratization, grassroots political mobilization and the challenges of governance, and the policing and violence that have intersected in the recent history of Rio de Janeiro's favelas and their city."—Jerry Dávila, author of Hotel Trópico: Brazil and the Challenge of African Decolonization, 1950–1980"McCann’s argument for optimism in the contemporary moment relies on a historical comparison: the political conditions for favela integration are much better now than they were in the period of Brazil’s transition to democracy, as the political and economic environment is more stable. Displaying his faith in building the city from below, he declares that community organizers and mobilizers 'have seized a new opportunity to build a Rio de Janeiro that lives up to its democratic promise and to its nickname: the Marvelous City.'" -- Tom Winterbottom * Public Books *"Bryan McCann has given us a compelling political history of Brazil in the 1970s and 1980s through the lens of Rio de Janeiro. His research is so meticulous and his writing so fluid that you feel as though you are living through the unfolding drama of politics, personalities, social forces, and serendipity. We see the way these forces re-create and perpetuate the deep divide between favelas and the rest of the city, despite people's movements and struggles for social justice."—Janice Perlman, author of Favela: Four Decades of Living on the Edge in Rio de Janeiro“This specialized work is well done and has broad implications for Brazilian political development. Recommended. Upper-division undergraduate, graduate, and research collections.” -- J. A. Rhodes * Choice *“One of McCann’s clear strengths lies in his consistent attention to, as previously noted, multiple actors and their interactions…. McCann’s intimate knowledge of specific favelas and their inhabitants blends well with his accounts of higher-level political events. These two volumes are substantial, provocative, and useful additions to the literature.” -- Henry Dietz * Latin American Politics and Society *“[T]he book is a must read for students and scholars who wish to gain an insightful historical description of Rio’s favelas and their place in the city as well as a contextualization of current issues regarding these relations.” -- Marie Kolling * Brasiliana *"McCann’s analysis is insightful, and his research brings exciting new perspectives to contemporary Rio de Janeiro’s urban history and, more generally, the history of Brazil, Latin America, the Global South, and urbanity." -- Peter Beattie * Journal of Interdisciplinary History *"McCann should be congratulated for providing readers with a neatly constructed account of popular politics and sociopolitical change in one of the world's great cities." -- James Woodard * American Historical Review *“By offering readers a comprehensive overview of this period, McCann’s book makes a significant contribution to our understanding of Rio de Janeiro today and the dilemmas that the Marvelous City still faces after all these years.” -- Michel Misse * American Journal of Sociology *Table of ContentsList of Illustrations vii Acknowledgments ix Introduction 1 1. The Big Picture 19 2. Mobilization 43 3. Reform 77 4. The Breaking Point 121 5. The Unraveling 159 Epilogue 181 Notes 199 Bibliography 227 Index 243

Read more less

Book SynopsisIn Oxford Street, Accra, Ato Quayson analyzes the dynamics of Ghana's capital city through a focus on Oxford Street, part of Accra's most vibrant and globalized commercial district and a microcosm of historical and urban processes that have made Accra the variegated and contradictory metropolis that it is today.Trade Review“What can a street teach us? In Oxford Street, Accra, Ato Quayson helps us go beyond the superficial spatial cues of this seemingly typical urban African street. He investigates the people and their interactions, in the past and present, and how these cumulatively create a sense of place. It’s an anthropological framework for examining Accra from the ground up: not its concrete structures, but its migrations – of Ga, Osu, Afro-Brazilian, Danish and Lebanese, and today’s traffic of Ghanaians and expats – and the social, economic and political forces that make the Osu neighborhood.” -- Victoria Okoye * The Guardian *“[A] work inspired by more than a decade of research by Professor Ato Quayson into the cultural shifts and influences that inform the bustling, vibrant commercial corridor known as Oxford Street in Accra’s Osu district….Quayson traces oral histories, shares pieces of colonial correspondence and recounts conversations with urban denizens on their salsa and gymming hobbies. Even the pithy tro tro and billboard slogans aren’t missed in his analysis, which invites the reader to engage with the ongoing discourse on Accra’s urban street life.” -- Victoria Okoye * UrbanAfrica.net *“Oxford Street is an erudite and extraordinary book. After reading it, I was amazed by how much a street can teach and inspire. I would recommend this book to geographers, anthropologists, and to anyone who is interested in African culture and transnationalism. Easy to read and compelling in many parts, the book is an excellent companion for undergraduate and postgraduate courses, and it makes for an interesting read for any transnational scholar.” -- Zhuyun Amy Zang * Society & Space *“Oxford Street, Accra is a magnificent book for all ‘students’ interested in a nuanced cultural and economic analysis of global urban studies. … By reading this book I realized that Quayson is many things together: he is a historian and an ethnographer, a structuralist and a post-structuralist, a political economist and a culturalist, a phenomenologist and a distant observer. Maybe it is because he has so many perspectives that this book can be deemed as important; maybe these are some of Quayson’s own expressive fragments.” -- George Mavrommatis * Postcolonial Studies *“Oxford Street is an important book that will provide a critical point of reference for anyone writing about urban Africa, joining AbdouMaliq Simone’s For the City Yet to Come (Duke University Press, 2004) as a seminal text in critical urban studies.” -- Jennifer Anne Hart * International Journal of African Historical Studies *“In this ambitious theoretical and empirical project, noted postcolonial literary scholar Ato Quayson takes Accra’s most prominent commercial district as an entry point into developing a nuanced and diverse historical portrait of the contemporary city. This single-city monograph from Africa is a rare and much-needed addition to the growing body of research on African urbanism. As urban studies increasingly takes its cues from the continent, Oxford Street is an indispensable asset to current debates on history, method, life and policy in the African city.” -- James Christopher Mizes * International Journal of Urban and Regional Research *"Quayson has superseded his goal of forestalling a superficial reading of Oxford Street as a mere outpost of globalization by giving readers a deep understanding of the whole of Accra, its history, and its spatial practices." -- Adedamola Osinulu * Journal of African History *"Quayson provides a framework for thinking about Accra’s particularities, its infrastructures and historical layerings that order creative ways of life. What is it about Accra that speaks to various people, that creates intimacy and makes people feel that Accra is theirs? The city has a feeling of closeness: small personal spaces rapidly open into broader senses of past and feelings of futurity. Quayson stands still, paying attention." -- Jesse Weaver Shipley * PMLA *"Quayson is a compelling writer, and the chapters effortlessly oscillate between local and global, past, present and future, which makes for a richly detailed story. This book is a must-read for people interested in African history, urban studies, transnationalism and the city of Accra." -- Geertrui Vannoppen * Africa *"[T]he book is significant contribution to post-colonial spatial and urban theory, contemporary examples of local communities interacting with global trends, and complex historical perspectives that push our understanding beyond colonialism as the only frame on modern-day Accra. Moreover, it provides all ethnographers with a fine and well-written example of how to narrate daily life and balance description with the historical and theoretical material." -- David Alexander Brown * Anthropological Notebooks *Table of ContentsPreface ix Introduction. Urban Theory and Performative Streetscapes 1 Part I. Horizontal Archaeologies 1. Ga Akutso Formation and the Question of Hybridity: The Afro-Brazilians (Tabon) of Accra 37 2. The Spatial Fix: Colonial Administration, Disaster Management, and Land-Use Distribution in Early Twentieth-Century Accra 64 3. Osu borla no, sardine chensii soo: Danes, Euro-Africans, and the Transculturation of Osu 98 Part II. Morphologies of Everyday Life 4. "The Beautyful Ones": Tro-tro Slogans, Cell Phone Advertising, and the Hallelujah Chorus 129 5. "Este loco, loco": Transnationalism and the Shaping of Accra's Salsa Scene 159 6. Pumping Irony: Gymming, the Kobolo, and the Cultural Economy of Free Time 183 7. The Lettered City: Literary Representations of Accra 213 Conclusion. On Urban Free Time: Vladimir, Estragon, and Rem Koolhaas 239 Appendix. Tro-tro Inscriptions 251 Notes 255 References 279 Index 293

Read more less

Book SynopsisIn Oxford Street, Accra, Ato Quayson analyzes the dynamics of Ghana's capital city through a focus on Oxford Street, part of Accra's most vibrant and globalized commercial district and a microcosm of historical and urban processes that have made Accra the variegated and contradictory metropolis that it is today.Trade Review“What can a street teach us? In Oxford Street, Accra, Ato Quayson helps us go beyond the superficial spatial cues of this seemingly typical urban African street. He investigates the people and their interactions, in the past and present, and how these cumulatively create a sense of place. It’s an anthropological framework for examining Accra from the ground up: not its concrete structures, but its migrations – of Ga, Osu, Afro-Brazilian, Danish and Lebanese, and today’s traffic of Ghanaians and expats – and the social, economic and political forces that make the Osu neighborhood.” -- Victoria Okoye * The Guardian *“[A] work inspired by more than a decade of research by Professor Ato Quayson into the cultural shifts and influences that inform the bustling, vibrant commercial corridor known as Oxford Street in Accra’s Osu district….Quayson traces oral histories, shares pieces of colonial correspondence and recounts conversations with urban denizens on their salsa and gymming hobbies. Even the pithy tro tro and billboard slogans aren’t missed in his analysis, which invites the reader to engage with the ongoing discourse on Accra’s urban street life.” -- Victoria Okoye * UrbanAfrica.net *“Oxford Street is an erudite and extraordinary book. After reading it, I was amazed by how much a street can teach and inspire. I would recommend this book to geographers, anthropologists, and to anyone who is interested in African culture and transnationalism. Easy to read and compelling in many parts, the book is an excellent companion for undergraduate and postgraduate courses, and it makes for an interesting read for any transnational scholar.” -- Zhuyun Amy Zang * Society & Space *“Oxford Street, Accra is a magnificent book for all ‘students’ interested in a nuanced cultural and economic analysis of global urban studies. … By reading this book I realized that Quayson is many things together: he is a historian and an ethnographer, a structuralist and a post-structuralist, a political economist and a culturalist, a phenomenologist and a distant observer. Maybe it is because he has so many perspectives that this book can be deemed as important; maybe these are some of Quayson’s own expressive fragments.” -- George Mavrommatis * Postcolonial Studies *“Oxford Street is an important book that will provide a critical point of reference for anyone writing about urban Africa, joining AbdouMaliq Simone’s For the City Yet to Come (Duke University Press, 2004) as a seminal text in critical urban studies.” -- Jennifer Anne Hart * International Journal of African Historical Studies *“In this ambitious theoretical and empirical project, noted postcolonial literary scholar Ato Quayson takes Accra’s most prominent commercial district as an entry point into developing a nuanced and diverse historical portrait of the contemporary city. This single-city monograph from Africa is a rare and much-needed addition to the growing body of research on African urbanism. As urban studies increasingly takes its cues from the continent, Oxford Street is an indispensable asset to current debates on history, method, life and policy in the African city.” -- James Christopher Mizes * International Journal of Urban and Regional Research *"Quayson has superseded his goal of forestalling a superficial reading of Oxford Street as a mere outpost of globalization by giving readers a deep understanding of the whole of Accra, its history, and its spatial practices." -- Adedamola Osinulu * Journal of African History *"Quayson provides a framework for thinking about Accra’s particularities, its infrastructures and historical layerings that order creative ways of life. What is it about Accra that speaks to various people, that creates intimacy and makes people feel that Accra is theirs? The city has a feeling of closeness: small personal spaces rapidly open into broader senses of past and feelings of futurity. Quayson stands still, paying attention." -- Jesse Weaver Shipley * PMLA *"Quayson is a compelling writer, and the chapters effortlessly oscillate between local and global, past, present and future, which makes for a richly detailed story. This book is a must-read for people interested in African history, urban studies, transnationalism and the city of Accra." -- Geertrui Vannoppen * Africa *"[T]he book is significant contribution to post-colonial spatial and urban theory, contemporary examples of local communities interacting with global trends, and complex historical perspectives that push our understanding beyond colonialism as the only frame on modern-day Accra. Moreover, it provides all ethnographers with a fine and well-written example of how to narrate daily life and balance description with the historical and theoretical material." -- David Alexander Brown * Anthropological Notebooks *Table of ContentsPreface ix Introduction. Urban Theory and Performative Streetscapes 1 Part I. Horizontal Archaeologies 1. Ga Akutso Formation and the Question of Hybridity: The Afro-Brazilians (Tabon) of Accra 37 2. The Spatial Fix: Colonial Administration, Disaster Management, and Land-Use Distribution in Early Twentieth-Century Accra 64 3. Osu borla no, sardine chensii soo: Danes, Euro-Africans, and the Transculturation of Osu 98 Part II. Morphologies of Everyday Life 4. "The Beautyful Ones": Tro-tro Slogans, Cell Phone Advertising, and the Hallelujah Chorus 129 5. "Este loco, loco": Transnationalism and the Shaping of Accra's Salsa Scene 159 6. Pumping Irony: Gymming, the Kobolo, and the Cultural Economy of Free Time 183 7. The Lettered City: Literary Representations of Accra 213 Conclusion. On Urban Free Time: Vladimir, Estragon, and Rem Koolhaas 239 Appendix. Tro-tro Inscriptions 251 Notes 255 References 279 Index 293

Read more less

Book SynopsisThe Project on Vegas shows how the Las Vegas Strip concentrates and magnifies American culture’s core truths. Among others, the Strip’s buffets, surveillance, large scale branding and consumption, and transformation of nature reflects larger trends and practices throughout America. Includes over 100 photographs by Karen Klugman.Trade Review"[T]he chapter on surveillance and 'security aesthetics' is downright chilling. This study may not expose all of Las Vegas’s secrets, but it still feels like someone pulling back the curtain for a peek at the Wizard." * Publishers Weekly *"Strip Cultures explores all aspects of Vegas from the perspectives of art, photography and the visual, from the sensory experience to nature and technology, and brand and image. Every facet goes under the microscope, which makes for diverting reading in itself – viewing this city, its culture and its bizarre mix of inhabitants for the sheer theatre it is." -- Sam Marsden * Jackpot.co.uk *"[A] book of often startling richness and complexity, often very finely written. ...Strip Cultures is an admirably even-handed and non-judgemental account, for the most part, of a city whose openness allows its authors to experience it in some new ways. But as they make clear, it’s also a city whose pleasures come at a human cost. Without hectoring or harangue, but instead by steady accumulation of data and anecdote, that is the disturbing conclusion this book leaves." -- Richard J. Williams * Times Higher Education *"This book is an excellent travelogue with pictures and commentary of the experience that is Las Vegas and American culture." -- Brad Eden * Journal of American Culture *Table of ContentsIntroduction. Riding the Deuce 1 1. Framing Las Vegas "Reality" 23 2. Playing the Penny Slots 50 3. S.I.N. City 70 4. sH2Ow 110 5. Bread and Circuses 134 6. The Whole World on a Plate 160 7. Gaming the Senses 184 8. Nature in Vegas: Cultivating the Brand 215 9. The Shipping Container Capital of the World 243 10. Ghosts of Weddings Past, Present, and Yet to Come 290 11. Memories: Made in China 322 Epilogue. Sucker Bet 338 Bibliography 359 Index 367

Read more less

Book SynopsisThe Project on Vegas shows how the Las Vegas Strip concentrates and magnifies American culture’s core truths. Among others, the Strip’s buffets, surveillance, large scale branding and consumption, and transformation of nature reflects larger trends and practices throughout America. Includes over 100 photographs by Karen Klugman.Trade Review"[T]he chapter on surveillance and 'security aesthetics' is downright chilling. This study may not expose all of Las Vegas’s secrets, but it still feels like someone pulling back the curtain for a peek at the Wizard." * Publishers Weekly *"Strip Cultures explores all aspects of Vegas from the perspectives of art, photography and the visual, from the sensory experience to nature and technology, and brand and image. Every facet goes under the microscope, which makes for diverting reading in itself – viewing this city, its culture and its bizarre mix of inhabitants for the sheer theatre it is." -- Sam Marsden * Jackpot.co.uk *"[A] book of often startling richness and complexity, often very finely written. ...Strip Cultures is an admirably even-handed and non-judgemental account, for the most part, of a city whose openness allows its authors to experience it in some new ways. But as they make clear, it’s also a city whose pleasures come at a human cost. Without hectoring or harangue, but instead by steady accumulation of data and anecdote, that is the disturbing conclusion this book leaves." -- Richard J. Williams * Times Higher Education *"This book is an excellent travelogue with pictures and commentary of the experience that is Las Vegas and American culture." -- Brad Eden * Journal of American Culture *Table of ContentsIntroduction. Riding the Deuce 1 1. Framing Las Vegas "Reality" 23 2. Playing the Penny Slots 50 3. S.I.N. City 70 4. sH2Ow 110 5. Bread and Circuses 134 6. The Whole World on a Plate 160 7. Gaming the Senses 184 8. Nature in Vegas: Cultivating the Brand 215 9. The Shipping Container Capital of the World 243 10. Ghosts of Weddings Past, Present, and Yet to Come 290 11. Memories: Made in China 322 Epilogue. Sucker Bet 338 Bibliography 359 Index 367

Read more less

Book SynopsisIn this ethnography of the Cancha mega-market in Cochabama, Bolivia, Daniel M. Goldstein examines what it means for the market's poorest vendors to maintain personal safety and economic stability by navigating systems of informality and illegality and how this dynamic is representative of the neoliberal modern city. Trade Review"... a cogent and compelling critique of how the move toward neoliberal economic policies has affected the lives of formal (those with fixed stalls) and informal (street) vendors." -- Arthur D. Murphy * American Ethnologist *"Weaving the background histories and theoretical discussions throughout the more narrative storytelling presentation, results in a thoughtful ethnography that contributes much to the field of anthropology as well as to the body of literature focused on markets in Latin America." -- Alana Nicole DeLoge * Bolivian Studies Journal *"By being transparent about his methodology and research experiences, he successfully breaks down conventions associated with academic writing. The result is a highly readable and engaging ethnography that showcases the daily struggles of men and women in the Cancha. . . . This book will be of value to Latin American specialists from multiple disciplines, including history, anthropology, and political science, as well as students seeking an inside look at the promises and pitfalls of ethnographic research in informal spaces." -- Nicole L. Pacino * Canadian Journal of History *"Goldstein’s narrative writing style, joined with short chapters and excellent accompanying photographs, make this book accessible to students at all levels. -- Kathleen Schroeder * Journal of Latin American Geography *"The book is a great read for scholars interested in Latin American cities, in issues of the street, in the informal economy, but also for scholars conducting original ethnographic work in diverse urban settings." -- Veronica Crossa * Journal of Latin American Studies *"Goldstein’s book is a must read for all students of informality and politics in cities of the South." -- Claire Benit-Gbaffou * International Journal of Urban and Regional Research *"A strong example of engaged anthropology. . . . This is a lovely ethnography that illuminates important elements of 'informality,' markets, and neoliberalism." -- Miriam Shakow * Journal of Anthropological Research *“An excellent study and a wonderful read. . . . Goldstein not only covers most of the important detail of a Latin American informal-sector market but does so in a way that allows one to feel the essence of its dynamism, creativity, and truth.” -- Peter M. Ward * Latin American Research Review *Table of ContentsPrologue ix Acknowledgements xiii 1. The Fire 1 2. Writing, Reality, Truth 10 3. Don Rafo 15 4. The Informal Economy 18 5. Nacho 25 6. The Bolivian Experiment 33 7. Meet the Press 42 8. The Colonial City: Cochabamba, 1574–1900 46 9. Conflicts of Interest 54 10. Decolonizing Ethnographic Research 58 11. A Visit to the Cancha 64 12. The Informal State 74 13. The Modern City: Cochabamba, 1900–1953 80 14. Market Space, Market Time 87 15. Carnaval in the Cancha 95 16. Security and Chaos 102 17. The Informal City: Cochabamba, 1953–2014 108 18. Convenios 117 19. Political Geography 122 20. Fieldwork in a Flash 131 21. Women's Work 139 22. Sovereignty and Security 148 23. Resisting Privatization 154 24. Don Silvio 161 25. Character 167 26. Exploitability 175 27. Market Men 182 28. Webs of Illegality 190 29. Men in Black 194 30. At Home in the Market 200 31. Owners of the Sidewalk 207 32. The Seminar 214 33. March of the Ambulantes 222 34. Complications 230 35. The Archive and the System 235 36. Goodbyes 240 37. Insecurity and Informality 246 Epilogue 252 Notes 257 References 293 Index 313

Read more less

Book SynopsisLesley Gill traces the rise and fall of the strong labor unions and working class of Barrancabermeja, Colombia, showing how the incursion of neoliberalism, the drug trade, and counterinsurgency military campaigns into civil society that began in the 1980s has destabilized everyday life and decimated the city's powerful social institutions. Trade Review"Gill weaves together the historical development of the city’s power struggles and the devastation and suffering of the city, and boldly looks into the future. She presents a hauntingly honest assessment of past struggles and future opportunities. An invaluable addition to understanding Colombia and its social, political, and class struggles, as well as those of the region and the larger world. . . . Essential. All public and academic levels/libraries." -- A. E. Leykam * Choice *"Gill’s book will be a fundamental text for anyone interested in violence, politics, and the state in contemporary Latin America and for those seeking a model for doing and writing historical anthropology at its very finest." -- Daniel M. Goldstein * American Ethnologist *"Lesley Gill never loses sight of her focus on class as her principal analytical category. This is the book’s greatest contribution....She stresses the agency and resistance of trade unionists, activists, and city councilors despite relentless and violent political persecution." -- María Clemencia Ramírez * American Anthropologist *"Through ethnographic research and oral histories, Gill offers a nuanced portrait of right-wing paramilitary occupation of the city, highlighting divergent experiences and contradictory memories.... As an urban history spanning nearly a hundred years, A Century of Violence in a Red City thus illustrates how urban space is produced and configured through struggles over resources and power." -- Emma Shaw Crane * NACLA Report on the Americas *"Gill has made an incredibly complicated story accessible, interesting, and useful to anyone interested in understanding how the violent suppression of class and labour remains central to contemporary projects of rule. The story is as well told as it is tragic." -- Teo Ballvé * Bulletin of Latin American Research *"Gill’s book contributes importantly to a literature in both English and Spanish, in the United States and in Colombia, that queries the complex nature of the relationships between the legitimate state and the parastate, between the army and the paramilitaries, all in the context of a neoliberal economy in which illicit drug production and trafficking play a central role. She skillfully elaborates a great deal about what is going on all over Colombia through the lens of one particular city." -- Les Field * Journal of Anthropological Research *"A Century of Violence in a Red City achieves its historically informed anthropology through Gill’s long-time engagement with the city’s activists and her deep knowledge of Latin American history. . . . Gill’s book helps us understand contemporary Colombia and is essential reading for anyone seeking to comprehend popular struggle in Latin America and its relation to broader patterns of capital accumulation." -- Johanna Pérez Gómez * Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute *Table of ContentsList of Acronyms ix Acknowledgments xiii Introduction 1 1. Black Gold, Militant Labor 29 2. Cold War Crucible 61 3. Terror and Impunity 95 4. Unraveling 123 5. Fragmented Sovereignty 152 6. Narrowing Political Options and Human Rights 183 7. The Aftermath of Counterinsurgency 216 Conclusion 237 Notes 249 References 263 Index 275

Read more less

Book SynopsisIn this ethnography of the Cancha mega-market in Cochabama, Bolivia, Daniel M. Goldstein examines what it means for the market's poorest vendors to maintain personal safety and economic stability by navigating systems of informality and illegality and how this dynamic is representative of the neoliberal modern city. Trade Review"... a cogent and compelling critique of how the move toward neoliberal economic policies has affected the lives of formal (those with fixed stalls) and informal (street) vendors." -- Arthur D. Murphy * American Ethnologist *"Weaving the background histories and theoretical discussions throughout the more narrative storytelling presentation, results in a thoughtful ethnography that contributes much to the field of anthropology as well as to the body of literature focused on markets in Latin America." -- Alana Nicole DeLoge * Bolivian Studies Journal *"By being transparent about his methodology and research experiences, he successfully breaks down conventions associated with academic writing. The result is a highly readable and engaging ethnography that showcases the daily struggles of men and women in the Cancha. . . . This book will be of value to Latin American specialists from multiple disciplines, including history, anthropology, and political science, as well as students seeking an inside look at the promises and pitfalls of ethnographic research in informal spaces." -- Nicole L. Pacino * Canadian Journal of History *"Goldstein’s narrative writing style, joined with short chapters and excellent accompanying photographs, make this book accessible to students at all levels. -- Kathleen Schroeder * Journal of Latin American Geography *"The book is a great read for scholars interested in Latin American cities, in issues of the street, in the informal economy, but also for scholars conducting original ethnographic work in diverse urban settings." -- Veronica Crossa * Journal of Latin American Studies *"Goldstein’s book is a must read for all students of informality and politics in cities of the South." -- Claire Benit-Gbaffou * International Journal of Urban and Regional Research *"A strong example of engaged anthropology. . . . This is a lovely ethnography that illuminates important elements of 'informality,' markets, and neoliberalism." -- Miriam Shakow * Journal of Anthropological Research *“An excellent study and a wonderful read. . . . Goldstein not only covers most of the important detail of a Latin American informal-sector market but does so in a way that allows one to feel the essence of its dynamism, creativity, and truth.” -- Peter M. Ward * Latin American Research Review *Table of ContentsPrologue ix Acknowledgements xiii 1. The Fire 1 2. Writing, Reality, Truth 10 3. Don Rafo 15 4. The Informal Economy 18 5. Nacho 25 6. The Bolivian Experiment 33 7. Meet the Press 42 8. The Colonial City: Cochabamba, 1574–1900 46 9. Conflicts of Interest 54 10. Decolonizing Ethnographic Research 58 11. A Visit to the Cancha 64 12. The Informal State 74 13. The Modern City: Cochabamba, 1900–1953 80 14. Market Space, Market Time 87 15. Carnaval in the Cancha 95 16. Security and Chaos 102 17. The Informal City: Cochabamba, 1953–2014 108 18. Convenios 117 19. Political Geography 122 20. Fieldwork in a Flash 131 21. Women's Work 139 22. Sovereignty and Security 148 23. Resisting Privatization 154 24. Don Silvio 161 25. Character 167 26. Exploitability 175 27. Market Men 182 28. Webs of Illegality 190 29. Men in Black 194 30. At Home in the Market 200 31. Owners of the Sidewalk 207 32. The Seminar 214 33. March of the Ambulantes 222 34. Complications 230 35. The Archive and the System 235 36. Goodbyes 240 37. Insecurity and Informality 246 Epilogue 252 Notes 257 References 293 Index 313

Read more less

Book SynopsisLesley Gill traces the rise and fall of the strong labor unions and working class of Barrancabermeja, Colombia, showing how the incursion of neoliberalism, the drug trade, and counterinsurgency military campaigns into civil society that began in the 1980s has destabilized everyday life and decimated the city's powerful social institutions. Trade Review"Gill weaves together the historical development of the city’s power struggles and the devastation and suffering of the city, and boldly looks into the future. She presents a hauntingly honest assessment of past struggles and future opportunities. An invaluable addition to understanding Colombia and its social, political, and class struggles, as well as those of the region and the larger world. . . . Essential. All public and academic levels/libraries." -- A. E. Leykam * Choice *"Gill’s book will be a fundamental text for anyone interested in violence, politics, and the state in contemporary Latin America and for those seeking a model for doing and writing historical anthropology at its very finest." -- Daniel M. Goldstein * American Ethnologist *"Lesley Gill never loses sight of her focus on class as her principal analytical category. This is the book’s greatest contribution....She stresses the agency and resistance of trade unionists, activists, and city councilors despite relentless and violent political persecution." -- María Clemencia Ramírez * American Anthropologist *"Through ethnographic research and oral histories, Gill offers a nuanced portrait of right-wing paramilitary occupation of the city, highlighting divergent experiences and contradictory memories.... As an urban history spanning nearly a hundred years, A Century of Violence in a Red City thus illustrates how urban space is produced and configured through struggles over resources and power." -- Emma Shaw Crane * NACLA Report on the Americas *"Gill has made an incredibly complicated story accessible, interesting, and useful to anyone interested in understanding how the violent suppression of class and labour remains central to contemporary projects of rule. The story is as well told as it is tragic." -- Teo Ballvé * Bulletin of Latin American Research *"Gill’s book contributes importantly to a literature in both English and Spanish, in the United States and in Colombia, that queries the complex nature of the relationships between the legitimate state and the parastate, between the army and the paramilitaries, all in the context of a neoliberal economy in which illicit drug production and trafficking play a central role. She skillfully elaborates a great deal about what is going on all over Colombia through the lens of one particular city." -- Les Field * Journal of Anthropological Research *"A Century of Violence in a Red City achieves its historically informed anthropology through Gill’s long-time engagement with the city’s activists and her deep knowledge of Latin American history. . . . Gill’s book helps us understand contemporary Colombia and is essential reading for anyone seeking to comprehend popular struggle in Latin America and its relation to broader patterns of capital accumulation." -- Johanna Pérez Gómez * Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute *Table of ContentsList of Acronyms ix Acknowledgments xiii Introduction 1 1. Black Gold, Militant Labor 29 2. Cold War Crucible 61 3. Terror and Impunity 95 4. Unraveling 123 5. Fragmented Sovereignty 152 6. Narrowing Political Options and Human Rights 183 7. The Aftermath of Counterinsurgency 216 Conclusion 237 Notes 249 References 263 Index 275

Read more less

Book SynopsisSecurity and risk have become central to how cities are planned, built, governed, and inhabited in the twenty-first century. In Endangered City, Austin Zeiderman focuses on this new political imperative to govern the present in anticipation of future harm. Through ethnographic fieldwork and archival research in Bogotá, Colombia, he examines how state actors work to protect the lives of poor and vulnerable citizens from a range of threats, including environmental hazards and urban violence. By following both the governmental agencies charged with this mandate and the subjects governed by it, Endangered City reveals what happens when logics of endangerment shape the terrain of political engagement between citizens and the state. The self-built settlements of Bogotá’s urban periphery prove a critical site from which to examine the rising effect of security and risk on contemporary cities and urban life.Trade Review"Endangered City offers crucial insights into the contingent and localized assemblage and deployment of security frameworks both as technologies of governance and as platforms for citizen claims. By exploring environmental risk, the book persuasively shows how security logics mutate and are hybridized, continually opening new fields for intervention and mobilization, but also reinscribing securitized conceptions of authority and citizenship." -- Federico Pérez * Anthropological Quarterly *"A comprehensive book we have long owed Bogotá, Endangered City provides an interdisciplinary perspective that is historical, ethnographic, and spatially rich. Appealing to different audiences, including urban planners, risk experts, policy makers, students, and urban geographers, the book offers a de-centered view of urban theory and constitutes an important contribution to critical understandings of security. Moreover, I think this is a recommended reading in uncertain and frustrating times." -- Diana Ojeda * Society & Space *"Zeiderman provides a vivid portrayal of everyday life in Bogota.... The depth of empirical detail is the strength of the book, which convincingly makes the case that more urban ethnographies are needed, especially in geography. Yet, this empirical specificity is also effortlessly interwoven with more general theoretical discussions, questions, and implications in critical urban studies and beyond." -- Matthew B. Anderson * Social & Cultural Geography *"Endangered City is an important contribution to contemporary urban studies and risk management via its nuanced unpacking of critical theory and as a well‐crafted ethnography of endangerment.... The text is well organized, eschewing excessive jargon and thus suitable for both undergraduates and graduates, as well as critical social theorists, Latin Americanists, and those concerned with urban policy, planning, and practice in the new millennium where the dominance of first world models can no longer be assumed for the global South." -- Marilyn Gates * Population, Space and Place *"Endangered City is an original and valuable contribution to scholarship and should be consulted by all students of politics and security in Latin America." -- Eugene Carey * Latin American Review of Books *Table of ContentsPreface vii Acknowledgments xv Introduction. The Politics of Security and Risk 1 1. Apocalypse Foretold 33 2. On Shaky Ground 63 3. Genealogies of Endangerment 93 4. Living Dangerously 131 5. Securing the Future 161 Conclusion. Millennial Cities 193 Coda 209 Notes 213 Bibliography 247 Index 269

Read more less

Book SynopsisTrade Review"Endangered City offers crucial insights into the contingent and localized assemblage and deployment of security frameworks both as technologies of governance and as platforms for citizen claims. By exploring environmental risk, the book persuasively shows how security logics mutate and are hybridized, continually opening new fields for intervention and mobilization, but also reinscribing securitized conceptions of authority and citizenship." -- Federico Pérez * Anthropological Quarterly *"A comprehensive book we have long owed Bogotá, Endangered City provides an interdisciplinary perspective that is historical, ethnographic, and spatially rich. Appealing to different audiences, including urban planners, risk experts, policy makers, students, and urban geographers, the book offers a de-centered view of urban theory and constitutes an important contribution to critical understandings of security. Moreover, I think this is a recommended reading in uncertain and frustrating times." -- Diana Ojeda * Society & Space *"Zeiderman provides a vivid portrayal of everyday life in Bogota.... The depth of empirical detail is the strength of the book, which convincingly makes the case that more urban ethnographies are needed, especially in geography. Yet, this empirical specificity is also effortlessly interwoven with more general theoretical discussions, questions, and implications in critical urban studies and beyond." -- Matthew B. Anderson * Social & Cultural Geography *"Endangered City is an important contribution to contemporary urban studies and risk management via its nuanced unpacking of critical theory and as a well‐crafted ethnography of endangerment.... The text is well organized, eschewing excessive jargon and thus suitable for both undergraduates and graduates, as well as critical social theorists, Latin Americanists, and those concerned with urban policy, planning, and practice in the new millennium where the dominance of first world models can no longer be assumed for the global South." -- Marilyn Gates * Population, Space and Place *"Endangered City is an original and valuable contribution to scholarship and should be consulted by all students of politics and security in Latin America." -- Eugene Carey * Latin American Review of Books *Table of ContentsPreface vii Acknowledgments xv Introduction. The Politics of Security and Risk 1 1. Apocalypse Foretold 33 2. On Shaky Ground 63 3. Genealogies of Endangerment 93 4. Living Dangerously 131 5. Securing the Future 161 Conclusion. Millennial Cities 193 Coda 209 Notes 213 Bibliography 247 Index 269

Read more less

Book SynopsisNikhil Anand explores the politics of Mumbai's water infrastructure to demonstrate how citizenship and the rights through which to make demands on the state for public services emerges through the relations between residents, plumbers, politicians, engineers, and the 3000 miles of pipe that bind them.Trade Review"This book is a fine intervention in anthropology, geography and sociology, as it troubles not just conventional understandings of how urban fragmentation works but is also an example of engaging creatively with socio-material assemblages and processes governing everyday life in the city. . . . This book provokes a broader scholarly imagination––one that is as empathetic as it is innovative." -- Sneha Annavarapu * International Journal of Urban and Regional Research *"Using a rich, empirically grounded approach, Anand makes a major contribution to the existing literature on water services, citizenship and difference. . . . An exceptionally good read that will appeal to a broad range of audiences, both specialist and non-specialist." -- Anke Schwarz * City *“Nikhil Anand makes a most significant contribution to the anthropology of the state.” -- Atreyee Majumder * Pacific Affairs *“Hydraulic City is an outstanding work. It will be of considerable interest to scholars of South Asian societies in general, especially those concerned with matters of the development, reproduction and undermining of states.” -- Andrew Dawson * Journal of Asian and African Studies *"Timely, expansive, and thoroughly researched. . . . Undoubtedly an important text that will go on to have important afterlives in scholarship on South Asia, infrastructure, water, cities, and citizenship." -- Tessa Farmer * Anthropological Quarterly *"Insightful and deeply engaging for both an ethnographer as well as a lay person. . . . Brings in a fresh perspective into urban cultural anthropology of water and its users." -- Nakul Mohan Heble * Economic and Political Weekly *"Deftly brings together historic and ethnographic narratives about the quest for water in the city of Mumbai and its long entanglements with the politics of citizenship. It is a work that nimbly shifts between scales and time, moving between historic narratives of installing the public water system and everyday experiences of gathering water. . . . Rife with fluidity and movement . . . This is a book that has a broad appeal that cuts across disciplinary boundaries." -- Chitra Venkataramani * Asian Journal of Social Science *"Anand proficiently merges theories of infrastructure and citizenship to explain the uncertainty surrounding water in Mumbai. Thanks to his clear writing and evocative ethnographic story-telling, readers can gain a solid social and technical understanding of the leaking leviathan of Mumbai . . . A fantastic, highly enjoyable ethnography that will probably have a strong influence on debates about cities and the fluid (i.e. volatile) links between infrastructure and urban citizenship." -- Lukas Ley * City & Society *"An important contribution towards understanding how infrastructure and society interface in complex and dynamic ways. . . . Anand’s ability to draw from multiple bodies of scholarship and communicate the otherwise dense, multilayered and messy real-world precarity of citizenship and access with nuance and detail is impressive. The book helps refocus, re-scale and recontextualize water’s inaccessibility as linked to intimate and dynamic facets of everyday life." -- Sameer H. Shah * Progress in Development Studies *“Hydraulic City is a thoughtful ethnography of how hopes, desires, and distributions of life are mediated by and accrete in the everyday infrastructures that surround us--systems that are perpetually falling apart and, much like our own lives, relations, and imaginaries, require constant upkeep and maintenance. Such a focus is beautifully reflected in the book’s form.” -- Shreyas Sreenath * Anthropology Book Forum *Table of ContentsPreface: Water Stories vii Acknowledgments xi Introduction. Water Works 1 Interlude. A City in the Sea 25 1. Scare Cities 29 Interlude. Fieldwork 61 2. Settlement 65 Interlude. Renewing Water 95 3. Time Pé (On Time) 97 Interlude. Flood 127 4. Social Work 131 Interlude. River/Sewer 159 5. Leaks 161 Interlude. Jharna (Spring) 191 6. Disconnection 193 Interlude. Miracles 219 Conclusion 223 Notes 239 References 265 Index 289

Read more less

Book SynopsisNikhil Anand explores the politics of Mumbai's water infrastructure to demonstrate how citizenship and the rights through which to make demands on the state for public services emerges through the relations between residents, plumbers, politicians, engineers, and the 3000 miles of pipe that bind them.Trade Review"This book is a fine intervention in anthropology, geography and sociology, as it troubles not just conventional understandings of how urban fragmentation works but is also an example of engaging creatively with socio-material assemblages and processes governing everyday life in the city. . . . This book provokes a broader scholarly imagination––one that is as empathetic as it is innovative." -- Sneha Annavarapu * International Journal of Urban and Regional Research *"Using a rich, empirically grounded approach, Anand makes a major contribution to the existing literature on water services, citizenship and difference. . . . An exceptionally good read that will appeal to a broad range of audiences, both specialist and non-specialist." -- Anke Schwarz * City *“Nikhil Anand makes a most significant contribution to the anthropology of the state.” -- Atreyee Majumder * Pacific Affairs *“Hydraulic City is an outstanding work. It will be of considerable interest to scholars of South Asian societies in general, especially those concerned with matters of the development, reproduction and undermining of states.” -- Andrew Dawson * Journal of Asian and African Studies *"Timely, expansive, and thoroughly researched. . . . Undoubtedly an important text that will go on to have important afterlives in scholarship on South Asia, infrastructure, water, cities, and citizenship." -- Tessa Farmer * Anthropological Quarterly *"Insightful and deeply engaging for both an ethnographer as well as a lay person. . . . Brings in a fresh perspective into urban cultural anthropology of water and its users." -- Nakul Mohan Heble * Economic and Political Weekly *"Deftly brings together historic and ethnographic narratives about the quest for water in the city of Mumbai and its long entanglements with the politics of citizenship. It is a work that nimbly shifts between scales and time, moving between historic narratives of installing the public water system and everyday experiences of gathering water. . . . Rife with fluidity and movement . . . This is a book that has a broad appeal that cuts across disciplinary boundaries." -- Chitra Venkataramani * Asian Journal of Social Science *"Anand proficiently merges theories of infrastructure and citizenship to explain the uncertainty surrounding water in Mumbai. Thanks to his clear writing and evocative ethnographic story-telling, readers can gain a solid social and technical understanding of the leaking leviathan of Mumbai . . . A fantastic, highly enjoyable ethnography that will probably have a strong influence on debates about cities and the fluid (i.e. volatile) links between infrastructure and urban citizenship." -- Lukas Ley * City & Society *"An important contribution towards understanding how infrastructure and society interface in complex and dynamic ways. . . . Anand’s ability to draw from multiple bodies of scholarship and communicate the otherwise dense, multilayered and messy real-world precarity of citizenship and access with nuance and detail is impressive. The book helps refocus, re-scale and recontextualize water’s inaccessibility as linked to intimate and dynamic facets of everyday life." -- Sameer H. Shah * Progress in Development Studies *“Hydraulic City is a thoughtful ethnography of how hopes, desires, and distributions of life are mediated by and accrete in the everyday infrastructures that surround us--systems that are perpetually falling apart and, much like our own lives, relations, and imaginaries, require constant upkeep and maintenance. Such a focus is beautifully reflected in the book’s form.” -- Shreyas Sreenath * Anthropology Book Forum *Table of ContentsPreface: Water Stories vii Acknowledgments xi Introduction. Water Works 1 Interlude. A City in the Sea 25 1. Scare Cities 29 Interlude. Fieldwork 61 2. Settlement 65 Interlude. Renewing Water 95 3. Time Pé (On Time) 97 Interlude. Flood 127 4. Social Work 131 Interlude. River/Sewer 159 5. Leaks 161 Interlude. Jharna (Spring) 191 6. Disconnection 193 Interlude. Miracles 219 Conclusion 223 Notes 239 References 265 Index 289

Read more less

Book SynopsisEmily Callaci maps a new terrain of political and cultural production in mid-twentieth-century Tanzanian cities. While the postcolonial Tanzanian ruling party adopted a policy of rural socialism—Ujamaa—an influx of youth migrants to the city of Dar es Salaam generated innovative forms of urbanism through the production and circulation of street archives.Trade Review"A brilliant book. . . . Callaci’s original approach enables readers to better understand the making of urban life beyond colonial and postcolonial cities. . . . She does this in such a way that the reader is engrossed by novelty and guided by a sense of theoretical clarity." -- Patrick Hege * H-Soz-Kult, H-Net Reviews *"Explores a variety of texts—didactic booklets aimed at young women, pulp fiction novellas, and song lyrics . . . A notable strength of the book is its treatment of these sources not only as reflective and productive of a particular moral imagination but also as inextricably entangled in the making of material gender positionalities through the material and reputational economies involved in the creation of these texts. . . . A valuable contribution to the historiography of this well-studied city [Dar es Salaam] and its inhabitants." -- Leander Schneider * American Historical Review *"Callaci has provided an excellent exploration of a crucial aspect of Tanzanian history and urban studies, and in the process, she creates a model for scholars seeking a broad understanding of African city dwellers and communities. This volume will be valuable reading for upper division students as well as graduate students and scholars in history, African Studies, post-socialist studies, urban studies, qualitative sociology, and anthropology." -- Anne S. Lewinson * International Journal of African Historical Studies *Table of ContentsAcknowledgments vii Introduction 1 1. TANU, African Socialism, and the City Idea 18 2. "All Alone in the Big City": Elite Women, "Working Girls," and Struggles over Domesticity, Reproduction, and Urban Space 59 3. Dar after Dark: Dance, Desire, and Conspicuous Consumption in Dar es Salaam's Nightlife 102 4, Lovers and Fighters: Pulp-Fiction Publishing and the Transformation of Urban Masculinity 141 5. From Socialist to Street-Smart: A Changing Urban Lexicon 180 Conclusion 207 Notes 215 Bibliography 253 Index 277

Read more less

Book SynopsisIn Street Archives and City Life Emily Callaci maps a new terrain of political and cultural production in mid- to late twentieth-century Tanzanian urban landscapes. While the postcolonial Tanzanian ruling party (TANU) adopted a policy of rural socialism known as Ujamaa between 1967 and 1985, an influx of youth migrants to the city of Dar es Salaam generated innovative forms of urbanism through the production and circulation of what Callaci calls street archives. These urban intellectuals neither supported nor contested the ruling party''s anti-city philosophy; rather, they navigated the complexities of inhabiting unplanned African cities during economic crisis and social transformation through various forms of popular texts that included women''s Christian advice literature, newspaper columns, self-published pulp fiction novellas, and song lyrics. Through these textual networks, Callaci shows how youth migrants and urban intellectuals in Dar es Salaam fashioned a collectiveTrade Review"A brilliant book. . . . Callaci’s original approach enables readers to better understand the making of urban life beyond colonial and postcolonial cities. . . . She does this in such a way that the reader is engrossed by novelty and guided by a sense of theoretical clarity." -- Patrick Hege * H-Soz-Kult, H-Net Reviews *"Explores a variety of texts—didactic booklets aimed at young women, pulp fiction novellas, and song lyrics . . . A notable strength of the book is its treatment of these sources not only as reflective and productive of a particular moral imagination but also as inextricably entangled in the making of material gender positionalities through the material and reputational economies involved in the creation of these texts. . . . A valuable contribution to the historiography of this well-studied city [Dar es Salaam] and its inhabitants." -- Leander Schneider * American Historical Review *"Callaci has provided an excellent exploration of a crucial aspect of Tanzanian history and urban studies, and in the process, she creates a model for scholars seeking a broad understanding of African city dwellers and communities. This volume will be valuable reading for upper division students as well as graduate students and scholars in history, African Studies, post-socialist studies, urban studies, qualitative sociology, and anthropology." -- Anne S. Lewinson * International Journal of African Historical Studies *Table of ContentsAcknowledgments vii Introduction 1 1. TANU, African Socialism, and the City Idea 18 2. "All Alone in the Big City": Elite Women, "Working Girls," and Struggles over Domesticity, Reproduction, and Urban Space 59 3. Dar after Dark: Dance, Desire, and Conspicuous Consumption in Dar es Salaam's Nightlife 102 4, Lovers and Fighters: Pulp-Fiction Publishing and the Transformation of Urban Masculinity 141 5. From Socialist to Street-Smart: A Changing Urban Lexicon 180 Conclusion 207 Notes 215 Bibliography 253 Index 277

Read more less

Book SynopsisMatthew Vitz outlines the environmental history and politics of Mexico City as it transformed its original forested, water-rich environment into a smog-infested megacity, showing how the scientific and political disputes over water policy, housing, forestry, and sanitary engineering led to the city's unequal urbanization and environmental decline.Trade Review"For Mexicanists, political historians, urban historians, and historians of planning, I suspect, Vitz’s emphasis on the politics of planning and what it reveals about the Porfiriato, the revolution, and the Cárdenas years will be well placed." -- John R. McNeill * H-LatAm, H-Net Reviews *"Matthew Vitz's work is a valuable and enjoyable contribution to a growing literature that takes seriously the way Mexico City's lacustrine past shapes its present." -- C. Lurtz * Choice *"The book will appeal to several audiences. Environmental historians of Latin America will appreciate the new approach through political ecology to an often-discussed region. Because the book outlines Mexican history from the perspective of its national capital in a clear accessible . . . manner, the topic may appeal to historians interested in a comparative approach in urban history. Water historians, meanwhile, will appreciate how the author acknowledges the social, cultural, and political influences that shape water management." -- Rocio Gomez * Canadian Journal of History *"Seldom are the city and hinterland, technocratic elites and popular groups, studied together – in Mexico or elsewhere – so Matthew Vitz’s work is a tremendous contribution to the field of Latin American urban history and the history of urban planning. In the case of A City on a Lake, this integration is accomplished through widespread archival research and a sophisticated analytical lens that links the histories of capitalism, urbanization, and the environment. Historians of Mexico will surely profit from this approach." -- Emilio de Antanuano * Planning Perspectives *"Vitz draws from a rich collection of archival sources to illustrate a metropolis caught between a growing population extracting more and more resources from a still-viable ecosystem and a government increasingly run by technocrats. . . . Given current global concerns about climate change, A City on a Lake is a welcome and valuable addition to environmental histories of Latin America and the world, as well as the history of inequality, which cannot be divorced from ecological perspectives." -- James A. Garza * Journal of Interdisciplinary History *"A City on a Lake is an innovative and complex study of the social, political, and environmental dynamics of Mexico City’s demographic and spatial expansion from the Porfiriato (1876–1911) through the middle of the twentieth century. . . . A meticulously sourced and theoretically grounded study that will likely be influential across several academic fields." -- Christopher Woolley * The Latin Americanist *"In this deeply researched and nicely detailed book, Vitz makes important contributions to the environmental and especially urban history of Latin America." -- Emily Wakild * Journal of Social History *"[This] book would make for an excellent text to assign to advanced undergraduates. It deserves to find a much wider readership than that, though. This impressive, sophisticated analysis will be of considerable interest to historians and geographers, in particular, and will appeal to scholars interested in the politics." -- Richard Conway * HAHR *"A City on a Lake is a very detailed environmental history which will speak more to Mexicanists and environmental historians. . . . the book is a superb example of urban political ecological analysis which transcends the boundaries of the city to examine the complex interactions between the city and its non-urban hinterlands. In this regard, A City on a Lake can contribute to recent debates on planetary urbanization within urban political ecology." -- Creighton Connolly * International Journal of Urban and Regional Research *"Matthew Vitz’s book, A City on a Lake, is a thoroughly researched and intricately woven history of environmental change in Mexico City from the last decades of the nineteenth century to the aftermath of the Mexican Revolution. . . . Vitz’s argument is articulated through richly described data, which vividly conveys the complexity of urban environmentmaking." -- Alejandro de Coss Corzo * Journal of Latin American Studies *"A major contribution to Mexican political historiography that unpacks the fascinating and complex story of a revolutionary nation whose capital city happens to sit on a lake. ... This remarkable book will likewise fuel debates in the larger field of radical political ecology, precisely be-cause it supports the claim that states matter as much as capital in any theoretical or analytical accounting of urbanization-led environmental change. In masterfully weaving multiple conceptual and disciplinary threads into a single convincing account, this must-read book will force a rethinking of new and old assumptions in a variety of fields. One could not ask for more." -- Diane E. Davis * Environmental History *"This book is a meticulously researched account of the production and reproduction of Mexico City’s 'metropolitan environment' during the long twentieth century, the bulk of which centers on the 1910s through the 1930s. ... Matthew Vitz has written an original, archivally rich analysis that deserves to be read by all those interested in cities past and present." -- J. Brian Freeman * The Americas *"Vitz makes important contributions to histories of the Mexican Revolution and state formation. . .. Vitz is to be commended for his ability to integrate the ecological, social, and political dimensions of cities and their hinterlands into an engaging narrative." -- Denisa Jashari * Latin American Research Review *Table of ContentsList of Abbreviations vii Acknowledgments ix Introduction 1 I. The Making of a Metropolitan Environment 1. The Porfirian Metropolitan Environment 19 2. Revolution and the Metropolitan Environment 51 II. Spaces of a Metropolitan Environment 3. Water and Hygiene in the City 81 4. The City and Its Forests 109 5. Desiccation, Dust, and Engineered Waterscapes 136 6. The Political Ecology of Working-Class Settlements 164 7. Industrialization and Environmental Technocracy 193 Conclusion 218 Notes 235 Bibliography 291 Index 321

Read more less

Book SynopsisIn Reclaiming the Discarded Kathleen Millar offers a comprehensive ethnography of Jardim Gramacho, a sprawling garbage dump on the outskirts of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, where self-employed workers, known as catadores, collect recyclable materials and ultimately generate new modes of living within the precarious conditions of urban poverty.Trade Review"A book that brings dignity to people otherwise considered marginal and reveals a progressive potential in work otherwise considered 'rubbish.'" -- Dagna Rams * LSE Review of Books *"Rich in ethnographic detail and theoretically engaging, Reclaiming the Discarded will surely find a receptive audience in graduate seminars and upper‐year undergraduate courses on economic anthropology or the anthropology of work." -- Stephen Campbell * American Anthropologist *"The end result is a thought‐provoking and pleasurable read that will be of value to scholars and students with an interest in Brazil and Latin America, economic anthropology, globalization, and urban anthropology." -- Gustavo S. Azenha * American Ethnologist *"Reclaiming the Discarded offers rich theoretical and empirical insights into the dynamics of work in the informal sector under the conditions of neoliberal capitalism." -- Ajnesh Prasad and Paulina Segarra * Organization *"[Reclaiming the Discarded] is an excellent example of what anthropologists do best. Methodologically, it is an ethnography that stands on its own. . . . Textually, the book is a beautiful read from start to finish: clear, concise and full of colour and life. Beyond the prose, the narrative itself shines, as Millar clearly formed deep and meaningful relationships with catadores and the people living around Jardim Gramacho." -- Kirsten Francescone * Anthropologica *"Reclaiming the Discarded is a rare achievement: incisive, analytically provocative, and thoroughly engaging. Millar uses ethnographic detail to bring the reader close, enabling us to observe with her so that we are drawn into her curiosities and invested in making sense of the complexities she renders." -- Christine Hegel * Anthropology of Work Review *"This book should be read by anyone interested in the anthropology of labour, informality, precarity and working life in Brazil, Latin America and beyond. Its engaging prose will also be of interest to a wider readership who will appreciate how Millar’s writing allows the voices and stories of Rio’s waste-pickers to come to the fore." -- Patrick O’Hare * Cambridge Journal of Anthropology *"The result of Millar’s research is an exceptional book, ethnographically thick and theoretically innovative. By sharing the shifting and ambivalent experience of the dump, with its smells, risks, rhythms and values, Millar was able to truly grasp, and skilfully convey, what it means to live as a catadora. . . . Millar's book opens new research avenues into the realms of labour, precarity and beyond." -- Constanza Ragazzi * Journal of Latin American Studies *Table of ContentsAcknowledgments ix Introduction 1 1. Arriving beyond Abjection 35 2. The Precarious Present 67 3. Life Well Spent 95 4. Plastic Economy 123 5. From Refuse to Revolution 151 Conclusion: The Garbage Never Ends 177 Notes 191 References 207 Index 223

Read more less

Book SynopsisMatthew Vitz outlines the environmental history and politics of Mexico City as it transformed its original forested, water-rich environment into a smog-infested megacity, showing how the scientific and political disputes over water policy, housing, forestry, and sanitary engineering led to the city's unequal urbanization and environmental decline.Trade Review"For Mexicanists, political historians, urban historians, and historians of planning, I suspect, Vitz’s emphasis on the politics of planning and what it reveals about the Porfiriato, the revolution, and the Cárdenas years will be well placed." -- John R. McNeill * H-LatAm, H-Net Reviews *"Matthew Vitz's work is a valuable and enjoyable contribution to a growing literature that takes seriously the way Mexico City's lacustrine past shapes its present." -- C. Lurtz * Choice *"The book will appeal to several audiences. Environmental historians of Latin America will appreciate the new approach through political ecology to an often-discussed region. Because the book outlines Mexican history from the perspective of its national capital in a clear accessible . . . manner, the topic may appeal to historians interested in a comparative approach in urban history. Water historians, meanwhile, will appreciate how the author acknowledges the social, cultural, and political influences that shape water management." -- Rocio Gomez * Canadian Journal of History *"Seldom are the city and hinterland, technocratic elites and popular groups, studied together – in Mexico or elsewhere – so Matthew Vitz’s work is a tremendous contribution to the field of Latin American urban history and the history of urban planning. In the case of A City on a Lake, this integration is accomplished through widespread archival research and a sophisticated analytical lens that links the histories of capitalism, urbanization, and the environment. Historians of Mexico will surely profit from this approach." -- Emilio de Antanuano * Planning Perspectives *"Vitz draws from a rich collection of archival sources to illustrate a metropolis caught between a growing population extracting more and more resources from a still-viable ecosystem and a government increasingly run by technocrats. . . . Given current global concerns about climate change, A City on a Lake is a welcome and valuable addition to environmental histories of Latin America and the world, as well as the history of inequality, which cannot be divorced from ecological perspectives." -- James A. Garza * Journal of Interdisciplinary History *"A City on a Lake is an innovative and complex study of the social, political, and environmental dynamics of Mexico City’s demographic and spatial expansion from the Porfiriato (1876–1911) through the middle of the twentieth century. . . . A meticulously sourced and theoretically grounded study that will likely be influential across several academic fields." -- Christopher Woolley * The Latin Americanist *"In this deeply researched and nicely detailed book, Vitz makes important contributions to the environmental and especially urban history of Latin America." -- Emily Wakild * Journal of Social History *"[This] book would make for an excellent text to assign to advanced undergraduates. It deserves to find a much wider readership than that, though. This impressive, sophisticated analysis will be of considerable interest to historians and geographers, in particular, and will appeal to scholars interested in the politics." -- Richard Conway * HAHR *"A City on a Lake is a very detailed environmental history which will speak more to Mexicanists and environmental historians. . . . the book is a superb example of urban political ecological analysis which transcends the boundaries of the city to examine the complex interactions between the city and its non-urban hinterlands. In this regard, A City on a Lake can contribute to recent debates on planetary urbanization within urban political ecology." -- Creighton Connolly * International Journal of Urban and Regional Research *"Matthew Vitz’s book, A City on a Lake, is a thoroughly researched and intricately woven history of environmental change in Mexico City from the last decades of the nineteenth century to the aftermath of the Mexican Revolution. . . . Vitz’s argument is articulated through richly described data, which vividly conveys the complexity of urban environmentmaking." -- Alejandro de Coss Corzo * Journal of Latin American Studies *"A major contribution to Mexican political historiography that unpacks the fascinating and complex story of a revolutionary nation whose capital city happens to sit on a lake. ... This remarkable book will likewise fuel debates in the larger field of radical political ecology, precisely be-cause it supports the claim that states matter as much as capital in any theoretical or analytical accounting of urbanization-led environmental change. In masterfully weaving multiple conceptual and disciplinary threads into a single convincing account, this must-read book will force a rethinking of new and old assumptions in a variety of fields. One could not ask for more." -- Diane E. Davis * Environmental History *"This book is a meticulously researched account of the production and reproduction of Mexico City’s 'metropolitan environment' during the long twentieth century, the bulk of which centers on the 1910s through the 1930s. ... Matthew Vitz has written an original, archivally rich analysis that deserves to be read by all those interested in cities past and present." -- J. Brian Freeman * The Americas *"Vitz makes important contributions to histories of the Mexican Revolution and state formation. . .. Vitz is to be commended for his ability to integrate the ecological, social, and political dimensions of cities and their hinterlands into an engaging narrative." -- Denisa Jashari * Latin American Research Review *Table of ContentsList of Abbreviations vii Acknowledgments ix Introduction 1 I. The Making of a Metropolitan Environment 1. The Porfirian Metropolitan Environment 19 2. Revolution and the Metropolitan Environment 51 II. Spaces of a Metropolitan Environment 3. Water and Hygiene in the City 81 4. The City and Its Forests 109 5. Desiccation, Dust, and Engineered Waterscapes 136 6. The Political Ecology of Working-Class Settlements 164 7. Industrialization and Environmental Technocracy 193 Conclusion 218 Notes 235 Bibliography 291 Index 321

Read more less

Book SynopsisIn Reclaiming the Discarded Kathleen Millar offers a comprehensive ethnography of Jardim Gramacho, a sprawling garbage dump on the outskirts of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, where self-employed workers, known as catadores, collect recyclable materials and ultimately generate new modes of living within the precarious conditions of urban poverty.Trade Review"A book that brings dignity to people otherwise considered marginal and reveals a progressive potential in work otherwise considered 'rubbish.'" -- Dagna Rams * LSE Review of Books *"Rich in ethnographic detail and theoretically engaging, Reclaiming the Discarded will surely find a receptive audience in graduate seminars and upper‐year undergraduate courses on economic anthropology or the anthropology of work." -- Stephen Campbell * American Anthropologist *"The end result is a thought‐provoking and pleasurable read that will be of value to scholars and students with an interest in Brazil and Latin America, economic anthropology, globalization, and urban anthropology." -- Gustavo S. Azenha * American Ethnologist *"Reclaiming the Discarded offers rich theoretical and empirical insights into the dynamics of work in the informal sector under the conditions of neoliberal capitalism." -- Ajnesh Prasad and Paulina Segarra * Organization *"[Reclaiming the Discarded] is an excellent example of what anthropologists do best. Methodologically, it is an ethnography that stands on its own. . . . Textually, the book is a beautiful read from start to finish: clear, concise and full of colour and life. Beyond the prose, the narrative itself shines, as Millar clearly formed deep and meaningful relationships with catadores and the people living around Jardim Gramacho." -- Kirsten Francescone * Anthropologica *"Reclaiming the Discarded is a rare achievement: incisive, analytically provocative, and thoroughly engaging. Millar uses ethnographic detail to bring the reader close, enabling us to observe with her so that we are drawn into her curiosities and invested in making sense of the complexities she renders." -- Christine Hegel * Anthropology of Work Review *"This book should be read by anyone interested in the anthropology of labour, informality, precarity and working life in Brazil, Latin America and beyond. Its engaging prose will also be of interest to a wider readership who will appreciate how Millar’s writing allows the voices and stories of Rio’s waste-pickers to come to the fore." -- Patrick O’Hare * Cambridge Journal of Anthropology *"The result of Millar’s research is an exceptional book, ethnographically thick and theoretically innovative. By sharing the shifting and ambivalent experience of the dump, with its smells, risks, rhythms and values, Millar was able to truly grasp, and skilfully convey, what it means to live as a catadora. . . . Millar's book opens new research avenues into the realms of labour, precarity and beyond." -- Constanza Ragazzi * Journal of Latin American Studies *Table of ContentsAcknowledgments ix Introduction 1 1. Arriving beyond Abjection 35 2. The Precarious Present 67 3. Life Well Spent 95 4. Plastic Economy 123 5. From Refuse to Revolution 151 Conclusion: The Garbage Never Ends 177 Notes 191 References 207 Index 223

Read more less

Book SynopsisIn 1986, with little warning, the USX Homestead Works closed. Thousands of workers who depended on steel to survive were left without work. A Town Without Steel looks at the people of Homestead as they reinvent their views of household and work and place in this world.

Read more less

Book SynopsisA Negotiated Landscape examines the transformation of San Francisco's iconic waterfront from the eve of its decline in 1950 to the turn of the millennium.

Read more less

Book SynopsisDavid Borkowski was nearly shot to death during a botched robbery when he was 15. Soon before turning 40, he obtained a Ph.D. in Literature and Rhetoric from the CUNY Graduate School. He is now a Professor of English. A Shot Story describes that journey.Trade Review"An important contribution to the understanding of working-class life in the late twentieth century in the United States." -- -Ray Mazurek Penn State State University "A riveting account of how a working-class boy turns himself into a middle-class academic. Borkowski's route is the not the standard route followed by many who took the same path. He is not the 'Scholarship Boy' identified early on by teachers as both gifted and talented and destined to succeed. Rather, he lives out the narrative of disaffected, dangerous kids who prefer life on the streets to life in classrooms. Against all odds, however, Borkowski turns himself into a 'Teacher Man' - a professor who finds his calling and his voice in the college classroom." -- -Sondra Perl CUNY Graduate CenterTable of Contents1. A Grave Situation 2. Tracks of My Fears 3. "So what's your name? 4. Child's Play 5. "We made the headlines, brother!" 6. Learning Curve 7. It's a Mad, Mad, Sad World 8. "It's Not Too Late to Take the Sanitation Test." 9. Witness 10. Re-Gifted 11. This Is It Notes Index

Read more less

Book SynopsisNew Postcards from Rio de Janeiro examines the interconnections between notions of citizenship and space in the works of favela-based cultural producers. It argues that the emphasis on the favela daily life generates an aesthetic of representation involved in the rewriting of the city as part of a process of political resistance and affirmation of difference.Trade Review"Studying important cultural works that trace shifting socioeconomic, cultural, and political patterns in Brazil in recent decades, da Costa Bezerra reveals the presence and importance of new sociocultural actors from Brazil's economically disenfranchised communities. A rare study that tackles the convergence between culture and human rights in present-day Brazil." -- -Leila Lehnen University of New Mexico "Postcards from Rio is an important contribution to the interdisciplinary field of scholarship on urban life in Rio. Da Costa Bezerra argues that favela-based cultural producers are engaging in forms of production that challenge the dominant narrative about favelas as violent, 'backward' places. By taking photographs and making films, murals, and fiction, they are both working against the hegemonic narratives of these communities and changing the internal imaginaries of what favelas are about for those who live in them." -- -Erika Robb Larkins University of OklahomaTable of ContentsIntroduction. Favelas: Challenging a Perverse Policy of Exclusion 1. Photographs and Favelas: Toward a Process of Self-Discovery and Belonging 2. Videos, Favelas, and Childhood: Reclaiming New Symbolic Geographies 3. Favelas for Sale: Resisting the Easy Links between Democracy and Urban Restructuring Plans 4. Monuments and Consumption: Defying Mechanisms of Social and Spatial Stratification Conclusion. Competing Discourses: Capital, Spatial Imaginaries, and Citizenship Acknowledgments Notes Works Cited Index

Read more less

Book SynopsisNew Postcards from Rio de Janeiro examines the interconnections between notions of citizenship and space in the works of favela-based cultural producers. It argues that the emphasis on the favela daily life generates an aesthetic of representation involved in the rewriting of the city as part of a process of political resistance and affirmation of difference.Trade Review"Studying important cultural works that trace shifting socioeconomic, cultural, and political patterns in Brazil in recent decades, da Costa Bezerra reveals the presence and importance of new sociocultural actors from Brazil's economically disenfranchised communities. A rare study that tackles the convergence between culture and human rights in present-day Brazil." -- -Leila Lehnen University of New Mexico "Postcards from Rio is an important contribution to the interdisciplinary field of scholarship on urban life in Rio. Da Costa Bezerra argues that favela-based cultural producers are engaging in forms of production that challenge the dominant narrative about favelas as violent, 'backward' places. By taking photographs and making films, murals, and fiction, they are both working against the hegemonic narratives of these communities and changing the internal imaginaries of what favelas are about for those who live in them." -- -Erika Robb Larkins University of OklahomaTable of ContentsIntroduction. Favelas: Challenging a Perverse Policy of Exclusion 1. Photographs and Favelas: Toward a Process of Self-Discovery and Belonging 2. Videos, Favelas, and Childhood: Reclaiming New Symbolic Geographies 3. Favelas for Sale: Resisting the Easy Links between Democracy and Urban Restructuring Plans 4. Monuments and Consumption: Defying Mechanisms of Social and Spatial Stratification Conclusion. Competing Discourses: Capital, Spatial Imaginaries, and Citizenship Acknowledgments Notes Works Cited Index

Read more less

Book SynopsisTable of ContentsForeword: Former Mass. Gov. Deval Patrick Reminisces vii Preface: A Grandson Learns His Duty xi Introduction: An Ancestor Speaks from Beyond 1 1 The Lasting Anger of an Abandoned Son 10 2 Irene: Baker Forever, but Never a Boss 32 3 Searching for a Band of Brothers 44 4 A “Coloured” West Indian in the Realm of the Irish and the Jews 65 5 The American Tennis Association as a Brotherhood/Sisterhood 83 6 Climbing the Ladder to Elective Office 91 7 On a Mission in the 1950s: Desegregation of Housing 97 8 Master of Black Compromise 108 9 The 1960s, Political Reform, and Personal Tragedy 126 10 Irene, in the End, Became His Connection to Home and Mother 149 11 Author Commentary. Downtown Brooklyn: Soul of the Boss, Soul of a People 155 12 Author Commentary. My Other Grandfather, a Priest and Writer I Hardly Knew 159 Conclusion: Century of Promise, Century of Hope 172 Acknowledgments 183 Notes 187 Bibliography 199 Index 207 Photographs follow page 96

Read more less