Toward Camden

Mercy Romero's book, Toward Camden, explores the largely African American and Puerto Rican Cramer Hill neighborhood in New Jersey, focusing on the relationships that make and sustain it. She engages with the aesthetics of fragment and ruin, resisting narratives of crime and decline and witnessing everyday lives lived at the intersection of spatial and Puerto Rican diasporic memory.

\n Format: Paperback / softback
\n Length: 136 pages
\n Publication date: 17 December 2021
\n Publisher: Duke University Press
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Mercy Romero s Toward Camden is a lyrical meditation on the complex web of relationships that shape and sustain the predominantly African American and Puerto Rican Cramer Hill neighborhood in New Jersey, where she grew up. Romero explores the city s streets and natural landscapes as a means of contemplating the collapse and transformation of property. She revisits abandoned and empty houses, including her family s home, the Walt Whitman House, and the landscape of a vacant lot. Throughout her writing, Romero engages with the aesthetics of fragment and ruin, challenging prevailing notions of redevelopment. She resists narratives of the city that are inextricably linked to crime and decline, instead witnessing the everyday lives lived at the intersection of spatial and Puerto Rican diasporic memory. As Romero walks through Camden, she weaves together official reports, personal anecdotes, and observations of the city s vacant lots. She questions the ways in which these spaces are perceived and used, and explores the ways in which they reflect and shape the larger social and economic dynamics of the city. Through her writing, Romero offers a nuanced and empathetic portrayal of Camden, highlighting the complex and multifaceted nature of the community and its struggles. Toward Camden is a powerful exploration of the relationships between place, identity, and memory, and a testament to the resilience and creativity of those who call it home.
Mercy Romero's Toward Camden is a lyrical exploration of the intricate web of relationships that shape and sustain the predominantly African American and Puerto Rican Cramer Hill neighborhood in New Jersey, where she grew up. Romero delves into the city's streets and natural landscapes as a means of contemplating the collapse and transformation of property. She revisits abandoned and empty houses, including her family's home, the Walt Whitman House, and the landscape of a vacant lot. Throughout her writing, Romero engages with the aesthetics of fragment and ruin, challenging prevailing notions of redevelopment. She resists narratives of the city that are inextricably linked to crime and decline, instead witnessing the everyday lives lived at the intersection of spatial and Puerto Rican diasporic memory.

As Romero walks through Camden, she weaves together official reports, personal anecdotes, and observations of the city's vacant lots. She questions the ways in which these spaces are perceived and used, and explores the ways in which they reflect and shape the larger social and economic dynamics of the city. Through her writing, Romero offers a nuanced and empathetic portrayal of Camden, highlighting the complex and multifaceted nature of the community and its struggles.

Toward Camden is a powerful exploration of the relationships between place, identity, and memory, and a testament to the resilience and creativity of those who call it home.

\n Weight: 134g\n
Dimension: 152 x 228 x 16 (mm)\n
ISBN-13: 9781478014706\n \n