Edge of Empire: Postcolonialism and the City [Paperback]

Jane M. Jacobs (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0415120071 | ISBN-13: 978-0415120074 | Publication Date: June 7, 1996 | Edition: First Edition

Edge of Empire examines struggles over urban space in three contemporary first world cities in an attempt to map the real geographies of colonialism and postcolonialism as manifest in modern society. From London, the one-time heart of the empire, to Perth and Brisbane, scenes of Aboriginal claims for the sacred in the space of the modern city, Jacobs emphasises the global geography of the local and unravels the spatialised cultural politics of postcolonial processes.
Edge of Empire forms the basis for understanding imperialism over space and time, and is a recognition of the unruly spatial politics of race and nation, nature and culture, past and present.

Editorial Reviews

Review

'Jacobs shows how traces of empire still haunt our desires and cloud even the purest of motives ... Tightly written and forcefully argued, Jane Jacobs does not just signpost the postcolonial, she also makes tracks and draws maps.' - Professor Nigel Thrift, University of Bristol, UK

Product Details

• Paperback: 208 pages
• Publisher: Routledge; First Edition edition (June 7, 1996)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0415120071
• ISBN-13: 978-0415120074
• Product Dimensions: 9.6 x 6.8 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.3 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,066,858 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Postcolonialism from both sides now, July 24, 2002

By 

Jessica Ellen Sewell (Boston, MA USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Edge of Empire: Postcolonialism and the City (Paperback)

This is a fascinating and theoretically nuanced study of the effects of colonialism and postcolonialism on cities. Jacobs looks not only at classically postcolonial cities, those in former colonies, but also at the effects of colonialism on cities at the center of the empire, such as London. The book is well written and accessible, and does an excellent job of grounding theory in the particulars of physical space.

18 of 29 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Not by who you think., March 9, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Edge of Empire: Postcolonialism and the City (Paperback)

This book is not written by the famous canadian author Jane Jacobs who wrote classic _The Death and Life of Great American Cities_ but instead by an identically named individual. The book is interesting but not in the same league was the Canadian Jane Jacobs.

0 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Jane Jacobs, Pennsylvanian not Canadian, March 6, 2004

By A Customer

This review is from: Edge of Empire: Postcolonialism and the City (Paperback)

I did not read this book, but I simply had to point out that the reviewer from Arlington, MA, tried to make a distinction between Jane Jacobs, the author of The Death and Life of Great American Cities, and Jane M. Jacobs, the author of this book, and used incorrect information. The reviewer stated that Jane Jacobs was a Canadian. While she maintains her current residence in Toronto, Canada, she was born and raised in Scranton, PA, and hence is not only an American, but a PENNSYLVANIAN.