○ Topic: Speculation speculation: Everyday views of Property Investors, Urban Planning, and Developers in Ho Chi Minh City
○ Time and Date: 2021. 11. 23 (Tuesday) 12:00-13:30
○ Lecturer: Erik Harms (Professor of Yale University)
○ Zoom Link: https://snu-ac-kr.zoom.us/j/
○ Host: Seoul National University Department of Anthropology BK21 Four / Seoul National University Institute of Cross-Cultural Studies / Seoul National University Department of Anthropology
○ Inquiries: anthrobk21plus@snu.ac.kr
○ Introduction: Speculation speculation refers to the way city dwellers regularly and pervasively speculate about the activities of real estate speculators. Building from several cases in urban Vietnam, this article argues that speculation speculation produces two contradictory effects. On the one hand, it offers a continuous and ongoing critique of real estate speculation. On the other hand, the speculative nature of these critiques inadvertently normalizes the practice of real estate speculation (which itself becomes understood as something continuous and ongoing). While speculation speculation plays something of a watchdog role, it also perpetuates the notion that speculative activity is an unavoidable fact of life in urban development.