Book review: Cities from Scratch: Poverty and Informality in Urban Latin America : Brodwyn Fisher, Bryan McCann, Javier Auyero (eds), Cities from Scratch: Poverty and Informality in Urban Latin America, Duke University Press: Durham, NC and London, 2014; 304 pp.: 978 0 8223 5533 5, £20.86/US$46.66 (pbk)

• Cities from Scratch studies what has come to be known as the informal city by dealing with two paradoxes, which are stated in Brodwyn Fisher’s introduction. The first paradox is that while the photogenic misery of informal cities is often wielded in debates about poverty, capitalism, race and state failure, it seldom forms the starting point of such conversations. The second paradox is that the dual nature of informal cities as global phenomena and local social formations is often described in universalistic terms. To contest these paradoxes, the book aims to create a fractured portrait of informal cities to advance a multifaceted argument about the nature and consequences of urban informality. The chapters of the book, by scholars based in History, Sociology and Social Anthropology, cover urban informality in Rio de Janeiro, Recife, Buenos Aires, Santiago, Caracas and Managua within a historical framework.

Ämnesord

SAMHÄLLSVETENSKAP  -- Annan samhällsvetenskap -- Genusstudier (hsv//swe)

SOCIAL SCIENCES  -- Other Social Sciences -- Gender Studies (hsv//eng)

SAMHÄLLSVETENSKAP  -- Social och ekonomisk geografi -- Kulturgeografi (hsv//swe)

SOCIAL SCIENCES  -- Social and Economic Geography -- Human Geography (hsv//eng)

Nyckelord

Urban Studies

architecture

Latin America

informal city

feminism

barrio women

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vet (ämneskategori)

rec (ämneskategori)