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