A House of My Own: Social Organization in the Squatter Settlements of Lima, Peru

By Susan Lobo

Book Overview

"A fairly comprehensive monograph, highly suitable for classroom use, that offers a wide range of information fit into traditional anthropological categories. . . . an interesting study of cultural integrity and pattern in a setting of what appears to be complex sociopolitical chaos." --American Anthropologist

"Whether or not one accepts Susan Lobo's optimistic analysis, her ability to translate the apparent chaos of shanty-town lives into such neat patterns and to help outsiders view life as the inhabitants do are important contributions." --Inter-American Review of Bibliography

"An extremely competent ethnography, simple and straightforward." --Anthropos

"A pleasure to read, a mine of information which will be useful in teaching students to formulate their own hypotheses." --International Journal of Urban & Regional Research

"Very well written and provides a great wealth of the liveliest sort of ethnographic detail." --Latin American Research Review

"Lobo's study of two squatter settlements in Lima provides a solid, well-written, detailed, traditional ethnography of poor families in a Third World urban setting." --Hispanic American Historical Review

"This well-written account . . . has a lot of heart and feeling for the human face of the urban poor." --International Migration Review

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0816507619
• ISBN13: 9780816507610
• Release Date: November 1981
• Publisher: University of Arizona Press
• Length: 190 Pages
• Weight: 0.85 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.5" x 6.0" x 9.1"

Customer Reviews

insight to life in squatter settlements

This book, by Susan Lobo, is based on the author's first-hand research in a squatter settlement in Lima, Peru. The squatters are mostly "indians" from the highlands of Peru who have come to the city in search of opportunity. The book is a study of the social organization in one squatter settlement -- economy, kinship, family organization and mutual aid, alliances -- all of your standard anthropological topics. This is not for a general reader, but is aimed at a scholarly audience. The reading is a bit dry but nonetheless of value to people interested in this topic.