tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-61488955661379904242024-03-14T09:42:28.602+00:00Sociology in My Neighborhood: DC Ward SixJohanna Bockmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08212564448840979369noreply@blogger.comBlogger290125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6148895566137990424.post-9514379913153267142022-08-23T16:18:00.007+01:002022-08-23T16:20:58.136+01:00Revisiting "George Washington (Hanadagá•yas) slept here"<p>Across the landscape, there are claims that George Washington slept here or visited. For example, at <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Friendship_House_(Washington,_D.C.)" target="_blank">Friendship House </a>(also
known as Duncanson House and the Maples) on Capitol Hill, he was
supposed to have been a guest. In 1940, the Daughters of the American
Revolution (DAR) installed a <a href="https://www.miles2gobeforeisleep.com/blog/2020/8/15/dcs-oldest-homes-the-maples" target="_blank">sign </a>on
the building stating that, yes, George Washington was a guest here.
People have questioned the veracity of such claims, but really why make
these claims at all? To start, it seems as if these are claims to
significance or value; this building and the homeowners are worthy
because they are linked to George Washington. </p><p>A new fascinating article on George Washington by Janine Yorimoto Boldt just came out in <i>American Art</i>, "<a href="https://www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/10.1086/720910" target="_blank">The Portrait of Hanadagá•yas; or, George Washington Reconsidered</a>,"
which provides insight into my question. In the article, Boldt
discusses the first portrait of George Washington in 1772 as a
celebration of militaristic white nationalism and later linked to the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lost_Cause_of_the_Confederacy" target="_blank">Lost Cause</a>. The landscape in the portrait is the Ohio River Valley, where, according to Boldt, Washington said that the Seneca leader <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tanacharison" target="_blank">Tancharison </a>named him, Caunotaucarius (in English) or Hanadagá•yas (in the language of the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iroquois" target="_blank">Haudenosaunee</a>),
"the Town-taker" or "the Town-Destroyer." Other Native American groups
referred to him this way, and he called himself this name when
communicating with them. Charles Cooke (<a href="https://thediscoverblog.com/2021/03/16/charles-angus-cooke-thawennensere-language-and-knowledge-keeper/" target="_blank">Thawennensere</a>) translated Hanadagá•yas as: </p><p></p><blockquote>"He
bites villages"..."A sacker of villages"; a destroyer of towns, a
ravager of communities; a plunderer and pillager of
encampments...Hyperbolically this verb denotes to destroy, to sack, to
plunder, to pillage, to devastate, to demolish, to ravage, to cause
havoc, to eat in secret the provisions and crops of others. It is used
only in instances of savagery and discomfort. (Boldt 2022: 6)</blockquote><p></p><p>So,
what is the significance of Hanadagá•yas, the Town-taker or the
Town-destroyer, visiting Friendship House on Capitol Hill and the DAR
putting up a sign about it centuries later? Why the need to claim that
he visited?</p><p>Could the declaration that Hanadagá•yas was a guest
here be a hope by the DAR to take the town of Washington, DC, or ravage
communities within it? In 1935, a year before the white segregated
Friendship House organization moved into the building soon to have the
DAR sign, the director wrote to a government official, "Since your visit
here the other evening I have been thinking a good deal about our
problem at Friendship House due to the increasing number of [African
Americans] in our immediate community. I also have been thinking of the
possibility of developing a housing scheme for white people...I believe
it would change the character of quite a bit of the surrounding area" <span style="font-size: x-small;">(NARA,
RG 302 Records of National Capital Housing Authority, Box 4, Letter
from Lydia Burklin, Friendship House, to John Ihlder, Aug. 16, 1935)</span>.
In 1940, the DAR placed the sign on the recently renovated Friendship
House. At the same time, this housing scheme displaced about 146 African
American households and built the white segregated Ellen Wilson
Dwellings in their place. This housing scheme also bolstered other work
to expand white segregated areas on Capitol Hill. </p><p>By making claims that George Washington slept or visited here, people bring Hanadagá•yas, George Washington, the Town-destroyer and Town-taker to life.
Hanadagá•yas helps them realize their racist urban visitions.
Maybe there is a kind of terror that should be recognized in
Hanadagá•yas sleeping or visiting anywhere?</p>Johanna Bockmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08212564448840979369noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6148895566137990424.post-17382570652362507562022-01-30T22:38:00.004+00:002022-01-30T22:38:40.593+00:00What is Psychogeography? A Journal of the Plague Year<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiH6cd9QTgX4fVNR0eRd199d7XIEfPnPUwHs6SbKhSbjkndpOJHQ7uHHhy36xoxaE-_d0VtR988MYO18Ztyx8ZVlX1MFZ8u9V97-UpFw0imNO4EL3hO3rgToqQhm2zCGeq4AqdONrwDgDHW7-YLTogrUTEuMRqUOaq-L5uqPIRVTcHIjolJX7EFEOLssA=s500" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="500" data-original-width="323" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiH6cd9QTgX4fVNR0eRd199d7XIEfPnPUwHs6SbKhSbjkndpOJHQ7uHHhy36xoxaE-_d0VtR988MYO18Ztyx8ZVlX1MFZ8u9V97-UpFw0imNO4EL3hO3rgToqQhm2zCGeq4AqdONrwDgDHW7-YLTogrUTEuMRqUOaq-L5uqPIRVTcHIjolJX7EFEOLssA=s320" width="207" /></a></div>According to <a href="https://www.blogger.com/#">Merlin Coverley</a>, the first psychogeographic survey of London was Daniel Defoe's <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/376/376-h/376-h.htm" target="_blank"><i>A Journal of the Plague Year</i></a>. The book, in his telling, is "an imaginative reworking of the city in which the familiar layout of the city is shown to be transformed" (Coverley, p. 37). I dove into the novel without much knowledge about it. It is a completely fascinating book that, in my opinion, is in no way a psychogeography. <p>Basically, the book is a fictional story of a saddle maker, who decides to remain in London during the plague of 1665. Defoe published the book in 1722, basing it on his childhood memories, statistical data, and many works that had already been published. In a very journalistic style, the saddle maker talks about what life is like being isolated and about the city when he often goes out around town, which is very life threatening. All those who can have left for the countryside. He has to stay because of his business, and he doesn't have adequate funds to leave town. He reports on conversations and stories, and on people screaming in pain, people wailing in grief from the discovery that their family members were ill or had passed away, people trying to continue to work, people escaping London to live in the forest, and so on. During his relatively short complete isolation, the saddle maker's friend, a doctor, came over, and, like everyone today, the saddle maker was so glad to talk with his friend. Importantly, I started reading a version of the book, which had been rewritten in language of today, which was very easy to read. I also read another version with language of the time, which took some getting used to reading. The whole book is just so interesting about what life was like at that time. I highly recommend it. </p><p>Now, I don't think that the book is psychogeography. He talks about London, but it seems like a newspaper reporter going out and talking about all the crazy things he sees. <a href="http://sociologyinmyneighborhood.blogspot.com/2022/01/what-is-psychogeography.html" target="_blank">Here </a>is my earlier discussion of psychogeography, which, in my opinion, doesn't include this (great) book. </p>Johanna Bockmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08212564448840979369noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6148895566137990424.post-7010669836926818442022-01-09T16:49:00.000+00:002022-01-09T16:49:02.560+00:00What is Psychogeography? Rorschach Theater<p>I have had a very enjoyable time doing the first two boxes of "Chemical Exile," the psychogeographical theater piece by the Rorschach Theater. Each of the seven boxes directs you to a specific location and provide you photos, letters, objects, etc. as a chapter in the "Chemical Exile" storyline. The <a href="https://www.instagram.com/p/CVQojxwss3N/?utm_medium=copy_link" target="_blank">theater's definition of psychogeography </a>is: <br /></p><p><span class=""></span></p><blockquote><p><span class="">It’s the intersection of psychology and geography and
while the idea existed long before him, the term was coined by
philosopher Guy Debord in the 1950s as an instruction for urban
exploration.</span></p><p><span class="">A GREAT PSYCHOGEOGRAPHIC EXPLORATION includes these key elements:<br /></span></p><ul style="text-align: left;"><li><span class=""> WANDERING as you explore your physical world in a leisurely way</span></li><li><span class="">SUBVERTING your everyday relationship with the city through a fresh perspective</span></li><li><span class="">DISCOVERING the present through the prism of the past</span></li><li><span class="">...and maybe a dash of the occult</span></li></ul></blockquote><p>As a sociologist, I tend more towards the understanding psychogeography as a method of urban exploration, but the theater is working within the literary tradition of psychogeography, which Merlin Coverley's <a href="https://www.worldcat.org/title/psychogeography/oclc/881288358&referer=brief_results" target="_blank"><i>Psychogeography </i></a>fascinatingly and convincingly argues is even more important. </p><p>Regarding the theater's definition, the wandering is different from <a href="http://sociologyinmyneighborhood.blogspot.com/2022/01/what-is-psychogeography-drifting.html" target="_blank">drifting </a>because we "audience members" are directed to a location and are exploring the psychological and geographical experiences of the main character. Of course, our own experiences of the spaces are interwoven and are encouraged in the call to be leisurely. </p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEh3lyPQpo8WDmWFcL3qsCE_ALbEmFhaVSvP8Tsdj6LUD7Zr_84DAmPIW42CovjBJOaDU_8zLEIxjHLBMQcMaJGyUPhVYRkUrfDZpEv1BjJ6BoHSXy1dUryLlzuoLXmNCHc-lLjAMt18wNLdNLKocN06kxPX0hkP_HEz9ufD2RFP4XHUfXw3zlqHn2zing=s4032" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="People swimming in Marie Reed pool" border="0" data-original-height="4032" data-original-width="3024" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEh3lyPQpo8WDmWFcL3qsCE_ALbEmFhaVSvP8Tsdj6LUD7Zr_84DAmPIW42CovjBJOaDU_8zLEIxjHLBMQcMaJGyUPhVYRkUrfDZpEv1BjJ6BoHSXy1dUryLlzuoLXmNCHc-lLjAMt18wNLdNLKocN06kxPX0hkP_HEz9ufD2RFP4XHUfXw3zlqHn2zing=w240-h320" title="People swimming in Marie Reed pool" width="240" /></a></div>Regarding subverting my everyday relationship with the city, I greatly appreciated going to a new part of Adams Morgan. Seeing the pool (see left image), the mural (see image below), and the wonderful picnic tables at Marie Reed Rec Center, as well as other very cool destinations, made the city even more marvelous! These destination also made me re-discover the present through the past. As Coverley writes, "the topography of the city is refashioned through the imaginative force of the writer [or the theater]...a kind of historical consciousness that exposes the psychic connectivity of landscapes" (p. 16). This was definitely the case. <br /><p></p><p>The occult also appeared! This play is in some sense about the city changing in confusing ways. In the midst of Box 2, which is very much about this, I ended up walking behind three men. I met one of them, Jerome, who was just explaining to his friends how different the area was from when he was growing up and pointing out the new buildings all around. I feel as if these kinds of woo-woo synchronicities are an important element of psychogeography. They highlight or emphasize a point or a significance in the space. <br /></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEi-cmdzTir0PqbYXCxCsuLjS3_aOsf0EQprn1Ew9G5M6VIeadac630IMOqBxQreQmdJYk_6WHKlxZDjL5JjN89KHGMOmHAqrKsVXNQmbC3ZfHaXir1YXIki6S7-Y9wK79E0sd5dGxfqVurVedJZCOhEoGpPc8hkM820XUpd8MT9aNxUgPGnH22HNTgRfw=s4032" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="4032" data-original-width="3024" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEi-cmdzTir0PqbYXCxCsuLjS3_aOsf0EQprn1Ew9G5M6VIeadac630IMOqBxQreQmdJYk_6WHKlxZDjL5JjN89KHGMOmHAqrKsVXNQmbC3ZfHaXir1YXIki6S7-Y9wK79E0sd5dGxfqVurVedJZCOhEoGpPc8hkM820XUpd8MT9aNxUgPGnH22HNTgRfw=s320" width="240" /></a></div>The theater piece sent me walking in new directions, which I am very grateful about. Among other things, I saw a strange portico on the side of a row house near 16th and Florida St, NW, (see below, any ideas about that??), and a kind of informal gallery or political statement near Ontario and Kalorama (see below). On the side of a garage planned to be razed was a series of photos of houses on the 1700-block of Seaton Place/Street, NW. In Shirikiana Aina's movie "<a href="https://www.cinema.ucla.edu/la-rebellion/films/brick-brick" target="_blank">Brick by Brick</a>," the fight by the residents of this block to stop eviction as a result of gentrification is documented (<a href="http://househistoryman.blogspot.com/2016/05/almost-razed-history-of-1700-block-of.html" target="_blank">here </a>is more information, saying they were one of the first groups to use the new <a href="https://code.dccouncil.us/us/dc/council/code/titles/42/chapters/34/subchapters/IV" target="_blank">TOPA </a>rules). <br /><p></p>"Chemical Exile" is a great psychogeographical experience so far! <br /><p><br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgJFJ27BxXLWnGQMevICJGzySW4VPaFvDHg2aIOSsvEmznv3iH4TZvBQFcvfcP1NEv9pcjPdpn0ua5PQmBMJ7Fz8L6QfSo07M48C7YWuuDhmVeLBRLOUjqW_ctV1mQk66UoOf2mZ6BB9FRhMTlw78TxYEhFPOW5lAAW7bvUhXrNO3XQdacIbrs_Wv1eaA=s4032" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Portico" border="0" data-original-height="4032" data-original-width="3024" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgJFJ27BxXLWnGQMevICJGzySW4VPaFvDHg2aIOSsvEmznv3iH4TZvBQFcvfcP1NEv9pcjPdpn0ua5PQmBMJ7Fz8L6QfSo07M48C7YWuuDhmVeLBRLOUjqW_ctV1mQk66UoOf2mZ6BB9FRhMTlw78TxYEhFPOW5lAAW7bvUhXrNO3XQdacIbrs_Wv1eaA=w240-h320" title="Portico" width="240" /></a></div><br /><br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhpn2rV32sHuEr2Zsrl8m2RvVB-vW2GdiOOcwuvlhK3JsHK3LlBcSAN_loYapkKHRkLaKjsfphPN5LqCWhNrinL9Lpthj8-Ot71DQ1fblc0IFZs4TQKAmL1XGefzVzycu6nwxMGHJh5cyCleetsqZ0BBu85SfqI22ZHBxZ5iZNOaVMB9A8VMgQkXrC5Jw=s4032" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="4032" data-original-width="3024" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhpn2rV32sHuEr2Zsrl8m2RvVB-vW2GdiOOcwuvlhK3JsHK3LlBcSAN_loYapkKHRkLaKjsfphPN5LqCWhNrinL9Lpthj8-Ot71DQ1fblc0IFZs4TQKAmL1XGefzVzycu6nwxMGHJh5cyCleetsqZ0BBu85SfqI22ZHBxZ5iZNOaVMB9A8VMgQkXrC5Jw=s320" width="240" /></a></div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEitX3fgDtCEFgBmektU-6nvLamu_66B38PlOgYJZWXqNyYJqpUFk-4dIQzsivt9sqd3q15yYOwoGkQrpWQSB6T59szXmHqg_fYexCqvRSB0WJPfUkpYzrTn714pILhBrzPWzP1FYmBa5RePTOCsQO23vvQE9pQU_xNTTVy5YJKz-ed21t-c4prkt8sy6g=s4032" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="4032" data-original-width="3024" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEitX3fgDtCEFgBmektU-6nvLamu_66B38PlOgYJZWXqNyYJqpUFk-4dIQzsivt9sqd3q15yYOwoGkQrpWQSB6T59szXmHqg_fYexCqvRSB0WJPfUkpYzrTn714pILhBrzPWzP1FYmBa5RePTOCsQO23vvQE9pQU_xNTTVy5YJKz-ed21t-c4prkt8sy6g=s320" width="240" /></a></div><br /><p><br /></p>Johanna Bockmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08212564448840979369noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6148895566137990424.post-71328363347869992132022-01-08T16:47:00.004+00:002022-01-08T17:10:34.261+00:00What is Psychogeography? Drifting<p>As discussed in my previous <a href="http://sociologyinmyneighborhood.blogspot.com/2022/01/what-is-psychogeography.html" target="_blank">post</a>, one psychogeographical method is aimless strolling and drifting through the city. First, French situationalist Guy Debord understood this drifting as a way investigate the emotional terrain of the city. Everyone senses the mood or ambiance of different parts of town. Here Debord suggests that we systematically explore the "zones of distinct psychic atmospheres," their currents, and their edges, as a way to understand the city in a deeper way (Coverley's <a href="https://www.worldcat.org/title/psychogeography/oclc/881288358&referer=brief_results" target="_blank">Psychogeography</a>, pp. 81-103). </p><p>Second, these strolls might move in a more sociological direction, as a way to detect multiple social worlds crossing through the city. Sociologist Ruth Glass understood London as an often invisible constellation of many unfamiliar worlds: <br /></p><p></p><p></p><blockquote>We can see them in the mean streets, in luxury flats, along the roads of suburban ribbon development; in places like Eel Pie Island, where various cliques of teenagers congregate; in jazz clubs, coffee bars, Soho joints, and expense account restaurants; in the withdrawing rooms of earnest religious or political sects; at Speakers’ Corner in Hyde Park or the Earls Court Road; at meetings in Trafalgar Square; in public libraries, senior common rooms, and at soirées of the Royal Society. We get an inkling of the existence of other remote and yet nearby worlds through migration statistics; through fascist news-sheets and...scrawls on the walls of back alleys; through unsavoury court cases or complaints before rent tribunals; in reading Press items about witch rites, ghost hunts, visits from Martians, and take-over bids. And then again, we may hear of the ‘hidden’ societies through reports of hospital almoners [officials who determine if someone qualifies for assistance], N.S.P.C.C. [National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children] inspectors, or social workers who bring ‘meals on wheels’ to lonely old people.<b> It is an amazing, still largely obscured, panorama that thus begins to be visible— a conglomeration of groups who move, so to speak, on separate tracks</b>, even if they do meet occasionally at a station. (Glass, introduction to <a href="https://www.udg.org.uk/publications/udlibrary/centre-urban-studies-london-aspects-change" target="_blank"><i>London: Aspects of Change</i></a>, 1964)<br /></blockquote><p></p><p>Aimless strolling (and other <a href="http://sociologyinmyneighborhood.blogspot.com/2015/01/why-is-it-so-difficult-to-see-in-ward-6_1.html" target="_blank">methods</a>) builds on our already existing human abilities to pick up on this panorama of social worlds and expand our understanding of cities beyond mass media and real estate's simultaneous "cliches of urban doom" (Glass <a href="https://www.worldcat.org/title/cliches-of-urban-doom-and-other-essays/oclc/802772190&referer=brief_results" target="_blank">1989</a>) and celebration of, what she termed, "gentrification" (Glass <a href="https://www.udg.org.uk/publications/udlibrary/centre-urban-studies-london-aspects-change" target="_blank">1964</a>). </p><p>Third, drifting also accesses our unconscious/subconscious and its amorphous knowledge of the city, which might also be considered a psychogeographical method. Back in September, I did a drift through Georgetown. I was born in <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Columbia_Hospital_for_Women" target="_blank">Columbia Hospital for Women</a>, and my family during my first year of life lived in a basement apartment in a Georgetown rowhouse around 27th and P Street, NW. So, I started on that block and drifted with the idea that my unconscious/subconscious might have retained knowledge of that time or might be open to knowledge embedded in the geography. Animals defined the drift. After being accompanied by crows flying overhead, I found myself in <a href="https://www.mtzion-fubs.org/history" target="_blank">Mount Zion Cemetery/Female Union Band Society Cemetery</a>, where I spent some time. Walking around Dumbarton House (the national headquarters of The National Society of The Colonial Dames of America) and along <a href="https://www.oakhillcemeterydc.org/" target="_blank">Oak Hill Cemetery</a>, I didn't feel like going into this cemetery, but I did and followed a cardinal to two headstones with family names -- Boswell and Merrick -- related to my Capitol Hill research. I believe that I walked down 29th St. On tiny Cambridge St, which made me think of Cambridge, MD, and Harriet Tubman (though maybe not the intention of the street name), I encountered a small rabbit on someone's side lawn. I returned to 29th on Dent St, possibly named after the large-scale enslavers from Charles County, MD. Paying attention to people and further animals, I mysteriously found myself again at Mount Zion Cemetery/Female Union Band Society Cemetery with at least one hawk flying overhead. And I walked down the hill to the Rock Creek path below. I found the aimless strolling very interesting. Obviously, my drift picked up on certain historical connections in the geography, while others would likely have a very different drift. To try to make sense of the drift, I took notes immediately, described the entire drift on paper soon afterwards, and drew a map. <br /></p><p>I'm soon going to experience the <a href="https://rorschachtheatre.com/2021/09/01/chemical-exile/" target="_blank">Rorschach Theater </a>psychogeography, which, of course, begins in Mount Zion Cemetery/Female Union Band Cemetery... <br /></p>Johanna Bockmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08212564448840979369noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6148895566137990424.post-33796301020011575472022-01-01T17:09:00.008+00:002022-01-02T22:43:01.117+00:00What is Psychogeography?<div><p>For some time, I've been intrigued by psychogeography. A couple of weeks ago, I received a letter from the Rorschach Theater on H St, NE, saying that they had been doing some psychogeography theater. I signed up (and paid) to figure out what they are up to and just received in the mail this box as part of a series of boxes: </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgNc1ajvlo8CtvfNXsOcUc17LW_FfoEcaihF2e-HX8RAdhPdE7-xeITSZK72GlnCKkmrIlNw5lxY2dMbyca0sWE4iMG-rE9dRJ46uOkHVJ-k4O1FXO-idat9iR-cWH-2uuQeXMw91cjKDAYm_ZdetlTVpEqxtQ9oCpuZxX1V6sXtYDotZAe1-9cmlvSVw=s4032" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="4032" data-original-width="3024" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgNc1ajvlo8CtvfNXsOcUc17LW_FfoEcaihF2e-HX8RAdhPdE7-xeITSZK72GlnCKkmrIlNw5lxY2dMbyca0sWE4iMG-rE9dRJ46uOkHVJ-k4O1FXO-idat9iR-cWH-2uuQeXMw91cjKDAYm_ZdetlTVpEqxtQ9oCpuZxX1V6sXtYDotZAe1-9cmlvSVw=s320" width="240" /></a></div><p>I haven't yet experienced this project, but I wanted to explain why I find psychogeography interesting (and certain practices problematic), which is based completely on a very useful book, Merlin Coverley's <a href="https://bookshop.org/books/psychogeography-9780857302175/9780857302175" target="_blank"><i>Psychogeography</i></a>: <br /></p><p><b>1) Psychogeography generally involves walking in a city. </b><br /></p><p><b>2) Psychogeography is a method of exploring cities in new ways</b>. For example, one
might take a drinking glass and draw a circle around its base on a city map and
then follow, as best one can, the circle through the city. One could
also throw dice to make walking decisions. Alternatively, one can
take "a drift," in which one follows one's subconscious to figure out
new connections, places, "<a href="https://www.cddc.vt.edu/sionline/presitu/geography.html" target="_blank">zones of distinct psychic atmospheres</a>," etc. <br /></p><b>3) Psychogeography is a perspective that views the city as a mystery, which requires secret knowledge to understand</b>. On the one hand, one might follow Peter Ackroyd and see the city as having an ancient, eternal nature understood through hidden signs, codes, etc. On the other hand, one might observe the movements of working class groups through the city as they map their own labyrinthine, secret city (like in Edward P. Jones' <a href="https://bookshop.org/books/lost-in-the-city/9780060795283" target="_blank"><i>Lost in the City</i></a>). </div><div> <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjO07lcymTlWZMaS0Cl8tcMQkiKhNPefy0RrPRog4XdfX2XFh-GSqQi0-B7iZTM_6eeuvNVZVK0DGcBGU_BhpYwEdPTbeTYULVRP41Jx-mI9_r5-c-aFSUXo_-nB0xWaww0HtoZAbZ7Bvz5nIIOktGbdnPFaHNffcd86E4x9GtXvXj57xi46CJFDZ0dPA=s4032" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="4032" data-original-width="3024" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjO07lcymTlWZMaS0Cl8tcMQkiKhNPefy0RrPRog4XdfX2XFh-GSqQi0-B7iZTM_6eeuvNVZVK0DGcBGU_BhpYwEdPTbeTYULVRP41Jx-mI9_r5-c-aFSUXo_-nB0xWaww0HtoZAbZ7Bvz5nIIOktGbdnPFaHNffcd86E4x9GtXvXj57xi46CJFDZ0dPA=s320" width="240" /></a></div></div><div><b>4) Psychogeography is a perspective in opposition to the homogeneous city</b>, the city of gentrification and standardization that makes all cities the same, as well as different also in the same ways. This view allows us to sense the marvelous city and how opaque areas of or certain past activities in the city remain around us in a kind of layering, a palimpsest. </div><div> </div><div><b>5) Psychogeography might be a way to take the city from developers, real estate agents, and others who seek to erase the city</b>, displace the working classes, and create a "<a href="http://sociologyinmyneighborhood.blogspot.com/2016/03/the-alternative-lifestyle-city-and.html" target="_blank">Great Blight of Dullness</a>." One might follow Stewart Home and usurp the claims of these real estate actors, leave secret codes for others, and take and transform the city. </div><div> </div><div></div><div></div><div></div><div></div><div><b>6) Psychogeography can be imperialistic. </b>For example, some psychogeography groups call themselves astronauts. If one walks through DC viewing oneself as an astronaut, then one might see other people as foreign beings, potentially dangerous aliens, and definitely not as neighbors or as people with a "<a href="https://righttothecity.org/" target="_blank">right to the city</a>." One can follow other traditions of psychogeography to hopefully avoid this; these traditions are discussed in Merlin Coverley's great book <a href="https://bookshop.org/books/psychogeography-9780857302175/9780857302175" target="_blank"><i>Psychogeography</i></a>. </div><div><br /></div>Johanna Bockmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08212564448840979369noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6148895566137990424.post-78792046021389724132021-10-01T21:45:00.003+01:002021-10-01T22:11:13.038+01:00The Dangers of Settler Colonial Art<p>This past summer, the <i>Hill Rag </i>informed readers that they could "<a href="https://www.hillrag.com/2021/07/08/volunteer-to-restore-mondrian-murals-saturday/" target="_blank">Volunteer to Restore Mondrian-Style Murals Saturday</a>." The murals are located in the underpass below the Southeast Freeway at 6th Street, SE, and originally joined a 30-foot high mural across the street, on the side of a public housing building in the Ellen Wilson Dwellings (see image). The chair of the ANC 6B had decided to organize the re-painting and restoration of the murals. I am mentioned in the article as providing some basic information about the murals, that they were painted between 1988 and 1992. When I learned about this restoration project, I knew that I had to say something about the history of the murals. <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgHCYwmdSPpLuQgsWgIwobPpIe5HXhe68W089zDIVQadVy5DmOE3ATvdPIQv638q-Oxsxd4usxOOweDrMYAc5pTiRo9BY5DEdiWKZeG4ZGWeQxKaBIpt8FSPOxZLxfExHre4GKbSTLfdbfz/s1302/Ellen+Wilson+Mural+Aug+1988%252C+SIA+11-001%252C+Box+76%252C+Folder+Warren+M.+Robbins+-+Mondrian+murals.++JB+attempt+1..jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1302" data-original-width="786" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgHCYwmdSPpLuQgsWgIwobPpIe5HXhe68W089zDIVQadVy5DmOE3ATvdPIQv638q-Oxsxd4usxOOweDrMYAc5pTiRo9BY5DEdiWKZeG4ZGWeQxKaBIpt8FSPOxZLxfExHre4GKbSTLfdbfz/s320/Ellen+Wilson+Mural+Aug+1988%252C+SIA+11-001%252C+Box+76%252C+Folder+Warren+M.+Robbins+-+Mondrian+murals.++JB+attempt+1..jpg" width="193" /></a></p><p></p><p>I had done years of research about the person who commissioned the murals, his connection with Piet Mondrian, and the philosophical ideas of Mondrian himself. My research article "<a href="https://d101vc9winf8ln.cloudfront.net/documents/40705/original/Bockman_IJURR_2021.pdf?1629724276" rel="noopener" target="_blank" type="octet-stream">The Aesthetics of Gentrification: Modern Art, Settler Colonialism, and Anti-Colonialism in Washington, DC</a>" came out in August, just as the group was finishing the restoration, and you can read my article <a href="https://d101vc9winf8ln.cloudfront.net/documents/40705/original/Bockman_IJURR_2021.pdf?1629724276" target="_blank">here</a> or access it on <a href="https://globalaffairs.gmu.edu/people/jbockman" target="_blank">my faculty webpage</a>. The international urban journal that published my article tweeted this about it: </p><div class="css-1dbjc4n"><div class="css-901oao r-18jsvk2 r-37j5jr r-a023e6 r-16dba41 r-rjixqe r-bcqeeo r-bnwqim r-qvutc0" dir="auto" id="id__rk5ps0aq95c" lang="en"><div class="css-1dbjc4n r-xoduu5"><span class="r-18u37iz"><a class="css-4rbku5 css-18t94o4 css-901oao css-16my406 r-1n1174f r-1loqt21 r-poiln3 r-bcqeeo r-1ny4l3l r-1ddef8g r-tjvw6i r-qvutc0" dir="ltr" href="https://twitter.com/DCSociologyWrd6" role="link"></a></span></div><blockquote><div class="css-1dbjc4n r-xoduu5"><span class="r-18u37iz"><a class="css-4rbku5 css-18t94o4 css-901oao css-16my406 r-1n1174f r-1loqt21 r-poiln3 r-bcqeeo r-1ny4l3l r-1ddef8g r-tjvw6i r-qvutc0" dir="ltr" href="https://twitter.com/DCSociologyWrd6" role="link">@DCSociologyWrd6</a></span></div><span class="css-901oao css-16my406 r-poiln3 r-bcqeeo r-qvutc0"> argues that The Mondrian Gate—series of murals on/near a public housing project in Washington DC just before its demolition— enabled Black erasure, dispersal, dispossession, and displacement </span><a class="css-4rbku5 css-18t94o4 css-901oao css-16my406 r-1n1174f r-1loqt21 r-poiln3 r-bcqeeo r-qvutc0" dir="ltr" href="https://t.co/t63LWS7FZP?amp=1" rel="noopener noreferrer" role="link" target="_blank"><span aria-hidden="true" class="css-901oao css-16my406 r-poiln3 r-hiw28u r-qvk6io r-bcqeeo r-qvutc0">https://</span>bit.ly/3Czrh3b</a></blockquote><p></p><p>Yes, the murals enabled the permanent displacement of hundreds of African American residents of the Ellen Wilson Dwellings. My article is a scholarly article and difficult to read, but this is because I am forging new historical knowledge based on a wide range of archival sources. The article is worth reading, especially because it has some amazing pictures and it explores DC and Capitol Hill history in the late 1980s and early 1990s. I also seek to understand what Mondrian sought to do in his art and what it meant for the city:<br /></p><p><span class="markedContent" id="page62R_mcid996"><span dir="ltr" role="presentation" style="font-family: serif; font-size: 16.25px; left: 97.648px; top: 149.801px; transform: scaleX(1.09751);"></span></span></p><blockquote><span class="markedContent" id="page62R_mcid996"><span dir="ltr" role="presentation" style="font-family: serif; font-size: 16.25px; left: 97.648px; top: 149.801px; transform: scaleX(1.09751);">Mondrian’s artworks were cartographical fantasies of a vast, segregated, </span></span><span class="markedContent" id="page62R_mcid997"><span dir="ltr" role="presentation" style="font-family: serif; font-size: 16.25px; left: 97.094px; top: 168.551px; transform: scaleX(1.05832);">white European city pushing colonial subjects to marginalized areas, and the destruction </span></span><span class="markedContent" id="page62R_mcid998"><span dir="ltr" role="presentation" style="font-family: serif; font-size: 16.25px; left: 97.642px; top: 187.301px; transform: scaleX(1.07268);">this would necessitate. [See the many white boxes at the center of the image above crowding out the colored boxes at the edges of the painting.] The late 1980s and 1990s opened up possibilities for new forms </span></span><span class="markedContent" id="page62R_mcid999"><span dir="ltr" role="presentation" style="font-family: serif; font-size: 16.25px; left: 97.55px; top: 206.051px; transform: scaleX(1.09152);">of displacement and revanchism on a global scale. [The commissioner of the murals] Robbins brought Mondrian’s maps </span></span><span class="markedContent" id="page62R_mcid1000"><span dir="ltr" role="presentation" style="font-family: serif; font-size: 16.25px; left: 97.55px; top: 224.801px; transform: scaleX(1.06932);">of a future segregated, imperial world to 1980s Washington, DC. Within this revanchist </span></span><span class="markedContent" id="page62R_mcid1001"><span dir="ltr" role="presentation" style="font-family: serif; font-size: 16.25px; left: 97.316px; top: 243.551px; transform: scaleX(1.0628);">context, Robbins used the Mondrian images as a fortress gate, a racial map of the future, </span></span><span class="markedContent" id="page62R_mcid1002"><span dir="ltr" role="presentation" style="font-family: serif; font-size: 16.25px; left: 97.372px; top: 262.301px; transform: scaleX(1.07328);">and as a gallery for public education...</span></span><span class="markedContent" id="page62R_mcid1005"><span dir="ltr" role="presentation" style="font-family: serif; font-size: 16.25px; left: 97.24px; top: 318.551px; transform: scaleX(1.10538);">The Mondrian Gate </span></span><span class="markedContent" id="page62R_mcid1006"><span dir="ltr" role="presentation" style="font-family: serif; font-size: 16.25px; left: 97.682px; top: 337.301px; transform: scaleX(1.10255);">signaled both the defense of Capitol Hill and its purification as a space of pure white, </span></span><span class="markedContent" id="page62R_mcid1007"><span dir="ltr" role="presentation" style="font-family: serif; font-size: 16.25px; left: 97.496px; top: 356.051px; transform: scaleX(1.10409);">pure black lines and distant pure colors, and also motivated a white empowerment to </span></span><span class="markedContent" id="page62R_mcid1008"><span dir="ltr" role="presentation" style="font-family: serif; font-size: 16.25px; left: 97.642px; top: 374.801px; transform: scaleX(1.07389);">take new land––a settler colonial globalization.</span></span></blockquote><span class="markedContent" id="page62R_mcid1008"><span dir="ltr" role="presentation" style="font-family: serif; font-size: 16.25px; left: 97.642px; top: 374.801px; transform: scaleX(1.07389);"></span></span> <p></p><p>There are many criticisms of the <a href="https://www.theringer.com/2018/10/18/17989192/mural-economy-street-art-detroit-graffiti" target="_blank">corporate uses of counter-cultural murals</a>. These murals were in no way counter-cultural. The commissioner of these murals planted a settler colonial flag at what was considered the southern edge of Capitol Hill as a statement about the future of this part of DC. </p><p>Is the desire to repaint the murals some kind of expression of t<span data-offset-key="2f463-0-0"><span data-text="true">he settler colonial subconscious? Complicity with colonialism?</span></span> Maybe the murals should have been left alone or even painted over? Or maybe another kind of mural should have been put in its place? Maybe the one in front of the Ellen Wilson Community Center (see it in the article)? What kind of murals would you want to have there? <br /></p><a class="css-4rbku5 css-18t94o4 css-901oao css-16my406 r-1n1174f r-1loqt21 r-poiln3 r-bcqeeo r-qvutc0" dir="ltr" href="https://t.co/t63LWS7FZP?amp=1" rel="noopener noreferrer" role="link" target="_blank"></a></div></div><p> </p>Johanna Bockmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08212564448840979369noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6148895566137990424.post-13539382406739513982021-05-19T16:03:00.008+01:002021-05-20T01:10:50.909+01:00The Spiritual Destruction of Gentrification<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh_bHuBYuSuaZbgYSxaeVsJLGbodxQq7D0lAXdElz1qafpKafVbL385JITGeHTRkCxcDaS-vqS0BxoeR67WNqfvQBhiORTAisB15tUyaULwcWU0qWCCRZIjXWPWvrsb31clkV0e4mkLOFpP/s842/Market+5+Gallery+2008.JPG" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="584" data-original-width="842" height="139" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh_bHuBYuSuaZbgYSxaeVsJLGbodxQq7D0lAXdElz1qafpKafVbL385JITGeHTRkCxcDaS-vqS0BxoeR67WNqfvQBhiORTAisB15tUyaULwcWU0qWCCRZIjXWPWvrsb31clkV0e4mkLOFpP/w200-h139/Market+5+Gallery+2008.JPG" width="200" /></a></div>Yesterday I was reading the oral history of <a href="https://www.capitolhillhistory.org/interviews/john-harrod" target="_blank">John Harrod</a>, who directed the Market 5 Gallery, a community art space in the North Hall of Eastern Market, from 1973 to 2009-2010 or so. Market 5 has a fascinating history. In 2007, there was a <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eastern_Market,_Washington,_D.C." target="_blank">huge fire in Eastern Market</a>, but Market 5 amazingly avoided the fire, in part due to an effective firewall between the North and South Halls. But other forces may have also provided assistance... <br /><p></p><p>Market 5 organized the weekend markets and vendors at Eastern Market. Among the vendors are psychics. The oral history has two very interesting segments regarding the psychics: <br /></p><p></p><blockquote>LEWIS: So, the psychics claim they stopped the fire?<br />HARROD: Because of their power, the fire didn’t come into the North Hall! [laughs] (p. 30)<br /></blockquote><p></p><blockquote>HARROD: Have you ever been there and looked up in the ceiling, the trusses in the ceiling?<br />LEWIS: Uh huh.<br />HARROD: The psychics tell me that there’s a pyramid shape that’s up there.<br />LEWIS: Oh really?<br />HARROD: Yeah. Which means that the Gallery is protected by, according to them, the strength of the pyramid—a sign that is found so many places in nature. Did you know that?<br />LEWIS: Exactly. (p. 36)<br /></blockquote>According to this view, the psychics and symbols protected the space. As is clear from many documents, Market 5 had a spiritual presence and energy. As I will discuss in future posts, the Capitol Hill/Southeast area has had a vast landscape of spiritualities protecting spaces and people. <p></p><p>However, gentrifying forces use disasters and shock to displace obstacles in their way, even those with protection. Often, such obstacles are completely destroyed and the space left vacant in an attempt, it seems, to destroy and erase the spirits. Also gentrifying forces may take advantage of chaos without plans for the space. Even though it escaped the fire's physical destruction, Market 5 Gallery was evicted and never allowed to return. Gentrifying forces took advantage of the fire to evict Market 5 and replace it with a homogeneous, predictable, almost empty space, a space without spirit. Here is Market 5 Gallery from a <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PPwmVLm2CGg" target="_blank">video </a>in 2008 as they are being moved out: <br /></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh_XJG5uqf49FJT92b2CBNyg_ZbZqSpHwQQ13imhKuo12n2xf_JS9TSSzG_vhyphenhyphenDX4_OIPIA5OPTEDSB-OeFig96CQ7Saw6bcsUpHzblMjLsN0yKa_-IUqvS8sLDjVDTJuK6bJ0IUrT2HKpD/s842/Market+5+Gallery+2008.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Market 5 Gallery in 2008, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PPwmVLm2CGg" border="0" data-original-height="584" data-original-width="842" height="278" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh_XJG5uqf49FJT92b2CBNyg_ZbZqSpHwQQ13imhKuo12n2xf_JS9TSSzG_vhyphenhyphenDX4_OIPIA5OPTEDSB-OeFig96CQ7Saw6bcsUpHzblMjLsN0yKa_-IUqvS8sLDjVDTJuK6bJ0IUrT2HKpD/w400-h278/Market+5+Gallery+2008.JPG" title="Market 5 Gallery in 2008, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PPwmVLm2CGg" width="400" /></a></div><br /><p>Here is the same space today (my photos taken this morning): <br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEifjNoGljsSi3aNgxMUr5LcGbdJaMX14H5DUeBu0_7xERW7dYiAPpWcp4u1DoRX9f2dXq1XrGONzhMvnKTodwJ2f3IWx4xskW1r1uSa3bHW5TOBbTZPfw63eSlcXMb_gQrz2cu-k9xBWKB-/s2048/C05F63A2-9174-443C-8500-744650A7B9E6.jpeg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1536" data-original-width="2048" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEifjNoGljsSi3aNgxMUr5LcGbdJaMX14H5DUeBu0_7xERW7dYiAPpWcp4u1DoRX9f2dXq1XrGONzhMvnKTodwJ2f3IWx4xskW1r1uSa3bHW5TOBbTZPfw63eSlcXMb_gQrz2cu-k9xBWKB-/w276-h240/C05F63A2-9174-443C-8500-744650A7B9E6.jpeg" width="276" /></a></div><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjRkd0niXw1VQOta5nQEPogyg0V0bGXmX2rks3Am65Uh6oN9Lsz8tOfqFneXyihpUPjDvSK0zJoem4KRZltfCj8ovgZECyCerzChmVyRu5NU-RKj4QeLecbqT-JnzbwzshCWNAijMdTigEu/s2048/14573D2A-01B5-4A1E-B53A-4E9C054BC6AF.jpeg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1536" data-original-width="2048" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjRkd0niXw1VQOta5nQEPogyg0V0bGXmX2rks3Am65Uh6oN9Lsz8tOfqFneXyihpUPjDvSK0zJoem4KRZltfCj8ovgZECyCerzChmVyRu5NU-RKj4QeLecbqT-JnzbwzshCWNAijMdTigEu/w296-h240/14573D2A-01B5-4A1E-B53A-4E9C054BC6AF.jpeg" width="296" /></a></div><p>Still a pretty space, but Market 5 was erased and replaced with a spiritually empty space. A space ready for whom or for what? <br /></p>Johanna Bockmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08212564448840979369noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6148895566137990424.post-34176633913681421222021-05-12T16:49:00.003+01:002021-05-13T00:26:12.158+01:00Public Housing Reunions<p>Today I came across an article by several amazing sociologists -- <a href="https://soc.ucla.edu/people/marcus-anthony-hunter" target="_blank">Marcus Anthony Hunter</a>, <a href="https://sociology.northwestern.edu/people/faculty/core/mary-pattillo.html" target="_blank">Mary Pattillo</a>, and <a href="https://gufaculty360.georgetown.edu/s/contact/0031Q000025AIXeQAO/zandria-robinson" target="_blank">Zandria F. Robinson</a> (Georgetown!)-- and the brilliant <a href="https://arc-hum.princeton.edu/people/keeanga-yamahtta-taylor" target="_blank">Keeanga-Yamahtta Taylor</a>, which really captured what is going on in Ward 6 in DC. In this article "<a href="https://drive.google.com/file/d/1sxiLRc-RAibWmE7CknGpoLkJUbqoXXV5/view?usp=sharing" target="_blank">Black Placemaking: Celebration, Play, and Poetry,</a>" they explore the ways that African Americans in Chicago have made meaningful, creative, celebratory, playful, pleasurable, and poetic experiences in hostile places. The authors focus on four case studies: black public housing reunions, black lesbian and gay nightlife, black Little League baseball, and the black digital commons. </p><p>Ward 6 is filled with similar cases. Arthur Capper Recreation Center hosted a wide range of sports, including the Washington Stonewall football team, as well as a wide-range of other teams that competed throughout the city. Towards the end of 8th Street, SE, <a href="https://capitolhillvillage.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/Gay-Capitol-Hill-Walking-Tour.pdf" target="_blank">Bachelor's Mill, Back Door Pub, Phase 1</a>, and many other locales continued a vibrant black lesbian and gay nightlife in the area. What especially resonated with me was their discussion of public housing reunions (pp. 39-43)!</p><p>Even though the buildings were destroyed by the DC government with federal support, the former residents of Arthur Capper public housing remain a community and have regular reunions. As in Chicago, the Arthur Capper community has a <a href="https://www.facebook.com/groups/261532922806" target="_blank">Facebook group</a> with 1,400 members. Other public housing projects also do this, both those projects that are now gone like the <a href="https://www.facebook.com/groups/eastgategardens51" target="_blank">Eastgate Gardens</a> (their Facebook group has 2,100 members) and those current public housing projects like <a href="https://www.facebook.com/pages/Potomac%20Gardens/470416679649351/" target="_blank">Potomac Gardens</a> and <a href="https://www.facebook.com/pages/James%20Creek%20Resident%20Council/155413541162550/" target="_blank">James Creek</a>. In Chicago, as discussed in the article, former public housing residents celebrate annually at the site of the former projects or at parks nearby or elsewhere in the city. The Arthur Capper community has held annual reunions in nearby Garfield Park and other parks in the DMV. The wonderful Sherman Mills invited me to the annual reunions. I wrote about one several years ago (<a href="http://sociologyinmyneighborhood.blogspot.com/2012/07/arthur-capper-reunion.html" target="_blank">here</a>), and Sherman Mills and I put together a special <a href="https://arthurcapper.omeka.net/" target="_blank">website </a>about the Arthur Capper community. The "In Loving Memory" section is particularly insightful with its <a href="https://arthurcapper.omeka.net/exhibits/show/inlovingmemories/photos/photos" target="_blank">photos </a>and <a href="https://arthurcapper.omeka.net/exhibits/show/inlovingmemories/photos/names-of-cappers-family-member" target="_blank">names </a>of those who have passed. <br /></p><p>The authors of the article about Chicago explore the living communities of current and former public housing residents. The authors write:<br /></p><blockquote>At the height of their occupancy in the 1970s, Chicago’s family public housing was officially home to over 137,000 people, most of them African American (Hunt, 2009: Table 1). The actual number might have been up to 40 percent higher than that (Venkatesh and Çelimli, 2004: 28). In 2012,the population in family public housing in Chicago was just over 23,000 (Chicago Housing Authority, 2012: Appendix 2). Despite this drastic population loss, the disappearing of black public housing residents was unsuccessful. Even the children of former residents proclaim their public housing lineage: ‘Me & my pops at the Robert Taylor Homes reunion/ he grew up in building #4101/had to capture that’, writes one young woman about a photo of her and her father in front of a mural of her father’s building and the title ‘Robert Taylor Family Reunion.’</blockquote>The authors further reflect, "As long as these memories are rehearsed, shared, spoken, and envisioned then the projects and the black families and communities that they housed will not die." Do members of the Arthur Capper community agree ? How do these and other displaced communities continue to live in DC and what does this mean for DC? <br />Johanna Bockmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08212564448840979369noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6148895566137990424.post-10459057169169920412021-03-22T17:32:00.004+00:002021-03-22T17:34:02.066+00:00Gentrification in Capitol East<p></p><p>On April 3, 1975, Gilda Warnick, Rosetta Byrd, and Marianne Josem of the Capitol East Housing Coalition testified in front of the DC Council about how housing speculation was affecting them and the Capitol East area (<a href="https://books.google.com/books?id=rqA3AAAAIAAJ&printsec=frontcover#v=onepage&q=gilda%20warnick&f=false" target="_blank">here </a>pp. 584-598). They and others had formed the Capitol East Housing Coalition a year earlier to stop the displacement of long-time low and moderate income residents. This displacement was caused by real estate speculation. In Capitol East, tenants were having their homes bought from under them and received eviction notices. Here are some excerpts I found most eye-opening: <br /></p><p>Ms. Warnick<i>:...We have found that the number of persons speculating in Capitol East is alarming. Last year, we found that<b> over 60 investment groups, individuals, partnerships, and corporations </b>operate in Capitol East, and since then, the list has grown dramatically</i></p><p><i>...speculators also benefit from more concealed and hidden real estate practices, such as flipping. Flipping is a process of buying and selling contracts before the property goes to settlement, and in this way, properties are artificially inflated before they enter the real estate market. Several real estate operators have told us about this practice, but it is extremely difficult to document, because the transaction does not appear in official records. </i></p><p><i>Another practice is use of straw parties and dummy corporations, which gives speculators anonymity, while assembling real estate and ways of evading taxes. It also makes it difficult to get at the root of the speculation problem, which is the financing...</i></p><p><i>Those residents I am talking about are people who have literally already bought their homes. They have lived in there 12 or 15 years paying rent. They never had enough money to save up for a down payment or settlement costs. Then when the house is sold, they are given a month's notice to move, having had no time at all to try to purchase a home... </i></p><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEitP9Mq1Ys407bcCD2CH5EWOdtOhF_bzdLP6Ua1ZQUYvMKnNGdV44Icq1CQl8zoUuuzzSeMG7HyWbFDbwW-cO7ELms1kiI4DMBHthTE1TWqfN7mDPxWaPOxVboQTLXJRzkdYmggAUvy8bz1/s1116/Linden+place.JPG" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="867" data-original-width="1116" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEitP9Mq1Ys407bcCD2CH5EWOdtOhF_bzdLP6Ua1ZQUYvMKnNGdV44Icq1CQl8zoUuuzzSeMG7HyWbFDbwW-cO7ELms1kiI4DMBHthTE1TWqfN7mDPxWaPOxVboQTLXJRzkdYmggAUvy8bz1/w400-h300/Linden+place.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Linden Place NE<br /></td></tr></tbody></table><p>Ms. Byrd: <i>My name is Rosetta Byrd, and I am the block captain of Linden Place, Northeast [between 12th and 13th St, south of H St NE]. I came here to tell you today about a housing problem myself and my friends are having because of real estate speculation on our block....Most of us have lived here for many years. We are regarded as low and moderate incomes, and many of us rent. All of a sudden last year, Linden Place became a speculator's market. Sixteen homes were bought up by them west of the park, from Virginia and Maryland. Six of them were bought by Capitol Hill real estate agents...Because of these problems, we on Linden Place decided to organize a block club to help each other to stay in our homes... </i> <br /></p><p>To stop this displacement and "the cancer spreading all over the city," they asked the DC Council to:</p><ul style="text-align: left;"><li>Give tenants the first opportunity to buy the properties. </li><ul><li>With the assistance of "a citywide revolving loan fund, which could be financed from the sale of bonds, and the revenue from the sale of bonds, and the revenue from the passage of taxes on tangible property and professional services."</li></ul><li>Implement a speculation tax. <br /></li></ul><p>The DC Council realized their request with a speculation tax in 1978 and Tenant Opportunity to Purchase (TOPA) in 1980. We know from <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/anti.12146" target="_blank">Katie Wells' work</a> that the the speculation tax was quickly overturned. In the meantime, Rosetta Byrd appeared on a 1978 news segment "<a href="https://www.worldcat.org/title/eyewitness-news-1978-10-excerpts-disappearing-people-compilation/oclc/7353158" target="_blank">Disappearing People</a>," in which <span class="showMoreLessContentElement" style="display: inline;">"Rosetta
Byrd describes her experiences after being evicted and moving from
place to place looking for low-income housing she could afford."</span> </p><p>How might we use policies like these (as well as protecting public housing) to help low and moderate income residents stay in DC? <br /></p>Johanna Bockmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08212564448840979369noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6148895566137990424.post-46037667303716362542020-09-29T17:00:00.002+01:002020-09-29T17:09:10.599+01:00The world-building of Ms. Comey's granddaughter<p> Yesterday, I read a very interesting <a href="https://www.publicbooks.org/black-speculation-black-freedom/" target="_blank">book review by Petal Samuel</a> in <a href="https://www.publicbooks.org/" target="_blank">Public Books</a>, one of my favorite sites for reviews of academic books. <a href="https://aaad.unc.edu/faculty-staff/petal-samuel/" target="_blank">Professor Samuel</a> is a brilliant scholar in the Department of African, African American and Diaspora Studies at the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill. She reviewed two books that explore speculative fiction and fugitive science. Her discussion of one of the books -- Sami Schalk’s <i>Bodyminds Reimagined:</i> <i>(Dis)ability, Race, and Gender in Black Women’s Speculative Fiction</i> -- particularly resonated with some recent, local events: <br /></p><blockquote><p>[In Phyllis Alesia Perry’s <i>Stigmata</i>, a novel Schalk analyzes], Perry’s black woman protagonist, <b>Lizzie, is misdiagnosed, institutionalized, and inappropriately medicated because she shares her consciousness with her ancestors. Mental instability is attributed to those who resist white supremacist order and deployed as a way to discredit marginalized perspectives. </b>Put simply, Schalk writes, “race and gender are important factors in who gets labeled mentally disabled and how a person is treated as a result of such a label.”</p></blockquote><p>On Saturday, my partner and I were talking with a neighbor, when I heard someone nearby sobbing. It was the granddaughter of Ms. Melissa Comey [sp?], who had owned the house and Comey Hair Salon near 10th and C Streets, SE. Ms. Comey's granddaughter was reliving her life at that house and the loss of the Comey family home, the dispersal of her family members and community, which were, in her words, "all gone." The sobbing woman's grandmother had sold the house several years ago and her family was forced to leave, but her granddaughter had not abandoned her connections with the neighborhood that gentrification had forced her to leave. She explained that sometimes she forgets that she isn't living anymore in that time or this place. She shared stories with us about playing hopscotch on the sidewalk and parts of the life she lived here. Then she turned the corner and disappeared. To me, her arrival was a gift or maybe a very important message from the past about a different potential future. <br /></p><p>A few minutes later, some people involved with helping the homeless approached us to ask where they could find Ms. Comey's granddaughter. They had their own perspective on the situation. They could only see Ms. Comey's granddaughter's sharing of "her consciousness with her ancestors" as mental illness. They wanted to arrange a quick intervention by mental health professionals. They deployed mental illness, in a way Schalk described: "as a way to discredit marginalized perspectives" like hers. </p><p>Whatever mental illness she suffered, Ms. Melissa Comey's granddaughter also showed what Samuel called, "modes of black innovation, creativity, and improvisation in the face of ongoing social, economic, and intellectual oppression" and white supremacist order. She was able to envision and live within another world in which she or her family and neighbors still lived at 10th and C Streets, SE, a world in which she still had a home that her neighbors recognized, a world in which she was not classified as "homeless" and as "mentally ill." Ms. Comey's granddaughter and the many people like her, including the authors of speculative fiction that Samuel discuses, demonstrate "the capacity of black speculation and experimentation to generate world-building visions that are inclusive and sustainable for multiply marginalized black subjects." How many worlds and futures exist or are emerging around us? Are we hearing them or silencing them? Could we step into these worlds we are invited to view and take off into another future?</p><p><br /></p>Johanna Bockmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08212564448840979369noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6148895566137990424.post-28864556225306444272020-03-20T19:29:00.001+00:002020-03-20T19:53:10.631+00:00The Shared Inequalities of DC and Puerto Rico <div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12.0pt;">
<span style="mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Back in 2011, I visited
Brazil, which was so wonderful and interesting. In a <a href="http://sociologyinmyneighborhood.blogspot.com/2011/06/inequality-in-dc-and-brazil_23.html">blog
post</a> at that time, I looked at its notoriously high Gini index (a
conventional measure of income inequality) and compared it with the Gini index
of DC and Puerto Rico. According to the Census, “The Gini index varies from 0
to 1, with a 0 indicating perfect equality, where there is a proportional
distribution of income. A Gini index of 1 indicates perfect inequality, where
one household has all the income.” According to the latest data in 2011 (2009 Census
data), <b>DC and Puerto Rico have long had the highest Gini indexes of the
entire United States and had similar levels to Brazil. </b></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12.0pt;">
<span style="mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Last weekend, I visited Puerto
Rico, which was so wonderful and interesting. Today I decided to revisit my
comparison: </span></div>
<table border="1" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="1" class="MsoNormalTable" style="border-bottom: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-left: none; border-right: none; border-top: solid windowtext 1.0pt; mso-border-bottom-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-cellspacing: .6pt; mso-padding-alt: 4.2pt 4.2pt 4.2pt 4.2pt; mso-yfti-tbllook: 1184;" summary="Procedure Report: Detailed and/or summarized report">
<tbody>
<tr style="mso-yfti-firstrow: yes; mso-yfti-irow: 0;">
<td style="border: none; padding: 4.2pt 4.2pt 4.2pt 4.2pt;"><br /></td>
<td style="border: none; padding: 4.2pt 4.2pt 4.2pt 4.2pt;" valign="top"><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<b><span style="font-size: 11.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">1960</span></b></div>
</td>
<td style="border: none; padding: 4.2pt 4.2pt 4.2pt 4.2pt;"><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<b><span style="font-size: 11.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">1979</span></b></div>
</td>
<td style="border: none; padding: 4.2pt 4.2pt 4.2pt 4.2pt;"><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<b><span style="font-size: 11.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">1989</span></b></div>
</td>
<td style="border: none; padding: 4.2pt 4.2pt 4.2pt 4.2pt;"><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<b><span style="font-size: 11.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">1999</span></b></div>
</td>
<td style="border: none; padding: 4.2pt 4.2pt 4.2pt 4.2pt;" valign="top"><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<b><span style="font-size: 11.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">2004</span></b></div>
</td>
<td style="border: none; padding: 4.2pt 4.2pt 4.2pt 4.2pt;" valign="top"><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<b><span style="font-size: 11.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">2006</span></b></div>
</td>
<td style="border: none; padding: 4.2pt 4.2pt 4.2pt 4.2pt;" valign="top"><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<b><span style="font-size: 11.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">2009</span></b></div>
</td>
<td style="border: none; padding: 4.2pt 4.2pt 4.2pt 4.2pt;" valign="top"><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<b><span style="font-size: 11.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">2015</span></b></div>
</td>
<td style="border: none; padding: 4.2pt 4.2pt 4.2pt 4.2pt;" valign="top"><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<b><span style="font-size: 11.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">2016</span></b></div>
</td>
<td style="border: none; padding: 4.2pt 4.2pt 4.2pt 4.2pt;" valign="top"><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<b><span style="font-size: 11.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">2018</span></b></div>
</td>
</tr>
<tr style="mso-yfti-irow: 1;">
<td style="border: none; padding: 4.2pt 4.2pt 4.2pt 4.2pt;"><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<b><span style="mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">DC Gini </span></b></div>
</td>
<td style="border: none; padding: 4.2pt 4.2pt 4.2pt 4.2pt;" valign="top"><br /></td>
<td style="border: none; padding: 4.2pt 4.2pt 4.2pt 4.2pt;"><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: 11.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">.450</span></div>
</td>
<td style="border: none; padding: 4.2pt 4.2pt 4.2pt 4.2pt;"><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: 11.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">.492</span></div>
</td>
<td style="border: none; padding: 4.2pt 4.2pt 4.2pt 4.2pt;"><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: 11.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">.549</span></div>
</td>
<td style="border: none; padding: 4.2pt 4.2pt 4.2pt 4.2pt;" valign="top"><br /></td>
<td style="border: none; padding: 4.2pt 4.2pt 4.2pt 4.2pt;" valign="top"><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: 11.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><a href="http://www.census.gov/prod/2007pubs/acs-08.pdf">.537</a></span></div>
</td>
<td style="border: none; padding: 4.2pt 4.2pt 4.2pt 4.2pt;" valign="top"><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: 11.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">.532</span></div>
</td>
<td style="border: none; padding: 4.2pt 4.2pt 4.2pt 4.2pt;" valign="top"><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: 11.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><a href="https://www.census.gov/content/dam/Census/library/publications/2017/acs/acsbr16-02.pdf">.535</a></span></div>
</td>
<td style="border: none; padding: 4.2pt 4.2pt 4.2pt 4.2pt;" valign="top"><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: 11.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><a href="https://www.census.gov/content/dam/Census/library/publications/2017/acs/acsbr16-02.pdf">.542</a></span></div>
</td>
<td style="border: none; padding: 4.2pt 4.2pt 4.2pt 4.2pt;" valign="top"><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
</td>
</tr>
<tr style="mso-yfti-irow: 2;">
<td style="border: none; padding: 4.2pt 4.2pt 4.2pt 4.2pt;" valign="top"><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<b><span style="mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Puerto
Rico Gini </span></b></div>
</td>
<td style="border: none; padding: 4.2pt 4.2pt 4.2pt 4.2pt;" valign="top"><br /></td>
<td style="border: none; padding: 4.2pt 4.2pt 4.2pt 4.2pt;" valign="top"><br /></td>
<td style="border: none; padding: 4.2pt 4.2pt 4.2pt 4.2pt;" valign="top"><br /></td>
<td style="border: none; padding: 4.2pt 4.2pt 4.2pt 4.2pt;" valign="top"><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: 11.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><a href="http://www.drclas.harvard.edu/revista/articles/view/1075">.558</a></span></div>
</td>
<td style="border: none; padding: 4.2pt 4.2pt 4.2pt 4.2pt;" valign="top"><br /></td>
<td style="border: none; padding: 4.2pt 4.2pt 4.2pt 4.2pt;" valign="top"><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: 11.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><a href="http://www.census.gov/prod/2007pubs/acs-08.pdf">.535</a></span></div>
</td>
<td style="border: none; padding: 4.2pt 4.2pt 4.2pt 4.2pt;" valign="top"><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: 11.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><a href="http://www.census.gov/prod/2010pubs/acsbr09-2.pdf">.532</a></span></div>
</td>
<td style="border: none; padding: 4.2pt 4.2pt 4.2pt 4.2pt;" valign="top"><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: 11.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><a href="https://www.census.gov/content/dam/Census/library/publications/2017/acs/acsbr16-02.pdf">.559</a></span></div>
</td>
<td style="border: none; padding: 4.2pt 4.2pt 4.2pt 4.2pt;" valign="top"><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: 11.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><a href="https://www.census.gov/content/dam/Census/library/publications/2017/acs/acsbr16-02.pdf">.542</a></span></div>
</td>
<td style="border: none; padding: 4.2pt 4.2pt 4.2pt 4.2pt;" valign="top"><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
</td>
</tr>
<tr style="mso-yfti-irow: 3; mso-yfti-lastrow: yes;">
<td style="border: none; padding: 4.2pt 4.2pt 4.2pt 4.2pt;" valign="top"><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<b><span style="mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Brazil
Gini</span></b></div>
</td>
<td style="border: none; padding: 4.2pt 4.2pt 4.2pt 4.2pt;" valign="top"><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: 11.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><a href="http://www.floridabrasil.com/brazil/guide-about-Brazil-Economy-Inequality-Poverty.htm">.500</a></span></div>
</td>
<td style="border: none; padding: 4.2pt 4.2pt 4.2pt 4.2pt;" valign="top"><br /></td>
<td style="border: none; padding: 4.2pt 4.2pt 4.2pt 4.2pt;" valign="top"><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: 11.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><a href="http://siteresources.worldbank.org/INTPOVRES/Resources/477227-1142543871921/Rise_and_fall_FLL_MDY07013%5B001-032%5D.pdf">.630</a></span></div>
</td>
<td style="border: none; padding: 4.2pt 4.2pt 4.2pt 4.2pt;" valign="top"><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: 11.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">[<a href="https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/fields/2172.html">.61</a>]</span></div>
</td>
<td style="border: none; padding: 4.2pt 4.2pt 4.2pt 4.2pt;" valign="top"><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: 11.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><a href="http://siteresources.worldbank.org/INTPOVRES/Resources/477227-1142543871921/Rise_and_fall_FLL_MDY07013%5B001-032%5D.pdf">.560</a></span></div>
</td>
<td style="border: none; padding: 4.2pt 4.2pt 4.2pt 4.2pt;" valign="top"><br /></td>
<td style="border: none; padding: 4.2pt 4.2pt 4.2pt 4.2pt;" valign="top"><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: 11.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><a href="http://web.worldbank.org/WBSITE/EXTERNAL/COUNTRIES/LACEXT/BRAZILEXTN/0,,menuPK:322351%7EpagePK:141132%7EpiPK:141107%7EtheSitePK:322341,00.html">.540</a></span></div>
</td>
<td style="border: none; padding: 4.2pt 4.2pt 4.2pt 4.2pt;" valign="top"><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: 11.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">.513</span></div>
</td>
<td style="border: none; padding: 4.2pt 4.2pt 4.2pt 4.2pt;" valign="top"><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: 11.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">.537</span></div>
</td>
<td style="border: none; padding: 4.2pt 4.2pt 4.2pt 4.2pt;" valign="top"><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: 11.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><a href="https://data.worldbank.org/indicator/SI.POV.GINI">.539</a></span></div>
</td>
</tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">(I need to fix this table. The years go from 1960 to 2018.)</span> <b><span style="mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">As
before, DC and Puerto Rico share <i>exactly the same</i> Gini index, which was
.532 (2009 data) and most recently is .542 (2016 data), and which is now <i>above</i>
Brazil’s Gini index. </span></b><span style="mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">You
can see that these numbers are very high in the World Bank’s listing of Gini
indexes for countries worldwide <a href="https://data.worldbank.org/indicator/SI.POV.GINI">here</a>.</span><span style="mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"> Of
course, there are issues with comparing countries, states, and cities,
as well as the problems with using measures of income inequality in
place of other kinds of inequality. Leaving those aside, <b>what
could explain these similar Gini indexes? </b></span></div>
<br /><b><span style="mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Back
in 2011, I hypothesized that these high levels of inequality may be due to the
fact that both DC and Puerto Rico lack representation in Congress and lack
democratic control over parts of their governments.</span></b><span style="mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"> Furthermore, in 1995-2001,
DC was subject to Financial Control Board (see its 1995 law <a href="https://www.congress.gov/104/plaws/publ8/PLAW-104publ8.pdf">here</a>). During
this time, there was a large jump in DC’s Gini index from .492 to .549. In
2016, Puerto Rico is now subject to its own financial control board (see its
2016 law <a href="https://oversightboard.pr.gov/documents/">here</a>) and may
experience similar increases in inequality. </span><br />
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<br /></div>
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<span style="mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">In 1989,
when Brazil had reached its highest Gini coefficient level, the Brazilian
people freely elected their first president after decades of military
dictatorship. After 1989, Brazil’s Gini coefficient declined significantly
through the reduction of poverty. According to a <a href="https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=3&ved=2ahUKEwjxn7nQ2qnoAhUDhHIEHcn3CYkQFjACegQIBRAB&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.imf.org%2F~%2Fmedia%2FFiles%2FPublications%2FWP%2F2017%2Fwp17225.ashx&usg=AOvVaw36niymbdT4Fxj5d5MDY9U0">2017
IMF working paper</a>, Brazil’s “Inequality reduction was achieved thanks to a
decade-long period of economic growth and deliberate income and social
inclusion policies, such as minimum wage increases and targeted social
programs.” <b>Could lack of full democratic representation have an impact on
inequality?</b></span></div>
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Johanna Bockmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08212564448840979369noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6148895566137990424.post-63920659803241399782019-12-29T23:55:00.002+00:002019-12-30T00:02:12.246+00:00Review of Huron’s wonderful commons book<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
Today Washington, D.C., seems like a terrain of hyper-gentrification
and widespread displacement. Yet D.C. has also been and continues to be
at the forefront of grassroots experiments combating these destructive
trends and creating new, democratic worlds. Amanda Huron, an assistant
professor of interdisciplinary social sciences at the University of the
District of Columbia, brings us into this on-going history in her new
book, <a href="https://www.upress.umn.edu/book-division/books/carving-out-the-commons" target="_blank"><i>Carving out the Commons: Tenant Organizing and Housing Cooperatives in Washington, D.C</i>.</a> Read the full book review published in <i>Washington History</i> (Fall 2019, volume 31 (1-2), pp. 100-101) here: <a href="https://dccooperatives.files.wordpress.com/2019/12/huron-review.pdf" title="Huron review">Huron review</a>.</div>
Johanna Bockmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08212564448840979369noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6148895566137990424.post-75081690254513912102019-11-28T01:07:00.000+00:002019-11-28T01:19:05.492+00:00Memorials to Socialism in Washington, DC<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
I was invited to Warsaw to give a talk on memorials to socialism in Washington, DC: "<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C7kQDDI7DQY&list=PL3mposj9_bGuExWn5-X5Q3PR-ZEAE09gS&index=4&t=0s&fbclid=IwAR3mH1TxLbiauI6oXjFTK3kXrsQQCdp5X8D_xZ6daipcAXGvndaTsLRqNAE" target="_blank">The Other Washington Consensus: Remembering Socialism in Washington, DC</a>."<br />
<br />
<iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/C7kQDDI7DQY" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen></iframe>
<br />
More great videos <a href="https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL3mposj9_bGuExWn5-X5Q3PR-ZEAE09gS">here </a>on the conference on memories of the 1989 economic transformations.<br />
<br />
Washington, DC, is known as the major center and exporter of neoliberal capitalism and as the center of the Washington Consensus. In 1990, economist John Williamson invented the term the “Washington Consensus” because he understood that Washington had agreed on a set of economic policies that it “urges on the rest of the world.” This set of 10 policies reflected a free-market capitalism with an export orientation. By “Washington,” Williamson meant “both the political Washington of Congress and senior members of the administration and the technocratic Washington of the international financial institutions, the economic agencies of the US government, the Federal Reserve Board, and the think tanks.” According to this view, Washington, DC, has been the force that has successfully spread free markets, free trade, and capitalism around the world. This is an Americanization story.<br />
<br />
Many people, including myself, have questioned such Americanization stories, and we have been inspired by post-socialist studies. In this talk, I wish to apply post-socialist studies to the center of neoliberal capitalism, Washington, DC. How might Washington, DC, itself be post-socialist? Post-socialism may seem irrelevant to DC, which is after all a major center of capitalism. However, Zsuzsa Gille (2010) has argued that everyone, and especially major actors in the Cold War, have experienced “the global post-socialist condition” in some form or other. Furthermore, there are many DCs, some of which are, or were, socialist. For example, in the late 1970s, the city of Black Power forged DC into a democratic socialist space, connecting many parts of the city to the socialist and Third Worlds. After 1989, within DC, the city of the IMF and the World Bank implemented the same shock of post-socialist neoliberalism that Black Power fought against.<br />
<br />
How might memorials help us to understand this post-socialism? Are there, in fact, memorials to socialism in DC? I am not a scholar of memorials, but rather I conduct research on Eastern European socialisms, multiple globalizations, and the history of DC. I am venturing into a new area, for myself, of memory studies. To answer these questions, I informally asked many DC residents: where are the memorials to socialism in DC? I also walked around town, searching for memorials to socialism. Today, I want to report on what I have found. I argue that these memorials to socialism in DC capture the history of battles between socialism and capitalism in DC itself, a history that is often hidden or forgotten. Thus, attention to the memorials to socialism reveals this battlefield that continues today. </div>
Johanna Bockmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08212564448840979369noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6148895566137990424.post-16467884584284826982019-04-05T17:29:00.000+01:002019-04-05T22:23:16.480+01:00The Ridiculous and Absurd in 1920s DC<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
It was a great treat to watch a <a href="https://zoom.us/recording/play/9-wYzhZx4uNHTouu9azvAT0Nso-l63dWDjsX62vDHvnOxgdPPTnjXyEkNM7c2KGG?continueMode=true" target="_blank">talk </a>by <a href="https://history.ucla.edu/faculty/robin-kelley" target="_blank">UCLA History Professor Robin Kelley</a>, in which he explains his term "racial capitalism." Among many fascinating things, Kelley said, "The purpose of racism is to control the behavior of white people"; guns and tanks are used to control the behavior of People of Color. The benefits of whiteness -- jobs, wealth, education, etc -- are unevenly distributed. So, even for those who will benefit minimally from whiteness, they will behave in ways that restrict themselves as human beings and even in ways that greatly hurt themselves. While this seems natural or normal to white people, Kelley goes on to say, it sure doesn't seem natural or normal to People of Color. This seems ridiculous and absurd.<br />
<br />
This reminded me of a fascinating survey I read on Tuesday at the Library of Congress. In 1929, former Howard Sociology Professor William Henry Jones finished a study titled <a href="https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=uc1.$b538873;view=1up;seq=11" target="_blank"><i>The Housing of Negroes in Washington, DC</i></a> for the Interracial Committee of the Washington Federation of Churches. <b>Jones wondered why white people did not want to live near African Americans. So, like any sociologist would, he asked them why. </b><br />
<br />
Jones systematically asked 200 white families why they did not want to live near African Americans. He found:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
The basis of many of the objections to living with Negroes lies so deeply embedded in the realms of social psychology and human nature that few of the persons who were consulted could formulate any clear and lucid statements of their attitudes and feelings regarding Negroes coming into their neighborhoods. (p. 74)</blockquote>
Basically, to Jones, their reasons seemed ridiculous and absurd. As African Americans moved into their neighborhood, these people would immediately sell their houses at any price, leave behind neighbors and cherished community, and shun their fellow human beings. <br />
<br />
As a great sociologist, Jones figured out the social forces pressuring these people to act this way: <br />
<ol style="text-align: left;">
<li>"the fear of public opinion and the attitudes of the other members
of white society" will affect their standing (pp. 74-75). </li>
<li>due to cultural differences (p. 76).</li>
<li>"rather general belief among white
people that Negroes are highly gregarious, with inclinations to have too
many around their homes -- with a special tendency to congregate on the
front porches. This tendency was generally referred to as looking<b> "bad
for the community." </b></li>
<li>"power of tradition" -- "not proper for Negroes
and white people to live on a basis of equality in the same
communities."</li>
<li>"the genuine fear of some whites that social
intimacies, encouraged by residential association, may lead ultimately
to a further breakdown of racial integrity and to intermarriage." (p. 77)</li>
</ol>
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhEmVdPcYWhEjNK0FJoz_vbofgJDXhXCldOJRefS7WXkeVygZ-DDM5_MKZJNYyiOR-Z0j8FxyxPmCge2flUlh5LKsovv4egOZTbHCnM68I47f6cxiArM37xoYiiq6EnzhYio39P3Afc0Ose/s1600/Summary+Table.JPG" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="644" data-original-width="780" height="264" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhEmVdPcYWhEjNK0FJoz_vbofgJDXhXCldOJRefS7WXkeVygZ-DDM5_MKZJNYyiOR-Z0j8FxyxPmCge2flUlh5LKsovv4egOZTbHCnM68I47f6cxiArM37xoYiiq6EnzhYio39P3Afc0Ose/s320/Summary+Table.JPG" width="320" /></a> So, here we have racism performing its primary role: controlling the behavior of white people. To everyone else, this situation seems ridiculous and absurd. <br />
<br />
And some white people chose to remain, including "Foreigners" -- like Italians and Russians -- who "seek refuge among other peoples who are also victims of the white man's prejudice" (p. 78). <br />
<br />
This behavior of white people had and has real consequences, often violence and traumatic consequences, on the lives of People of Color. <br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Johanna Bockmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08212564448840979369noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6148895566137990424.post-71302667605002133212019-01-23T19:23:00.002+00:002019-01-23T19:27:35.388+00:00Opportunity hoarding on H St NE<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
In preparation for my urban class today, I was looking at Thomas Sugrue's <i><a href="https://press.princeton.edu/titles/10233.html" target="_blank">The Origins of the Urban Crisis</a></i> and saw this quotation that rang true to me here in DC:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
Sociologist Charles Tilly describes "opportunity hoarding" as one of the major contributors to historical inequalities -- and the story of American metropolitan areas, like Detroit, is a history of the ways that whites, through the combined advantages of race and residence, were able to hoard political and economic resources -- jobs, public services, education, and other goods -- to their own advantage at the expense of the urban poor. (p. xxxvi)</blockquote>
This made me think of the amazing <a href="https://www.behance.net/gallery/66974669/I-Dont-Know-My-Neighborhood-Anymore" target="_blank">photos of H St NE by Joseph Young</a> and his commentary about disinvestment, today's forms of white segregation (and opportunity hoarding), displacement, and anti-gentrification protests. His photo essay is worth going through slowly and reading carefully. </div>
Johanna Bockmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08212564448840979369noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6148895566137990424.post-77141461265515180072019-01-03T21:38:00.000+00:002019-01-03T21:38:03.873+00:00Gentrification on Capitol Hill Revisited<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
The wonderful archivists at GWU Special Collections have posted online Anita Rechler's fascinating MA thesis: <a data-auth="NotApplicable" href="https://secure-web.cisco.com/1_uuV0R9MbFV0GFYV9RcylFbvHIfQQfOP7Ivw6YuQ6iVZZmKYtFnpOCGaG1n6iqlaitKKsjnu8AH6mg1sGVDoSiwwm46BMgPUhk5nLMFKhB8nFMzyDlazD4RjDPM-RpLxjl442HlVu0D2RyeJBZhIDk-CXaJ54xXeiYuO-sE1bwbh1N3sty8RWk6IhVGUkhHWKdWuCw3ScL18XK57W8gWNcuF2J9lXoZ5dAHYe0zdFaJTLed7K7pU0BHPC2yerHu6-D6hzHXkR1I5IWvF84WDIG-WlZygBwYpBwu57OFPr_MZRkhOB7p_boMGvjjh0UBvaAQ_ZdCDRPav0dBr7uiEn4Tvjy--cPOusGFCXTLPsHkJOJAXt4QN3i1tMk_YOx2r/https%3A%2F%2Fscholarspace.library.gwu.edu%2Fetd%2F5h73pw42p" rel="noopener noreferrer" style="background-color: white; font-family: wf_segoe-ui_normal, "Segoe UI", "Segoe WP", Tahoma, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;" target="_blank">https://scholarspace.library.gwu.edu/etd/5h73pw42p</a> (Click this link, scroll to the bottom, under Actions click Select an Action and choose Download).<br />
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Below is my discussion of the thesis when I read it in Special Collections in 2011. Remember Anita Rechler is talking about changes on Capitol Hill <b>over 44 years ago</b>.<br />
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In her fascinating 1974 M.A. thesis on the Capitol Hill renovation movement, <a href="http://books.google.com/books/about/Private_renewal_and_community_change.html?id=z38eOAAACAAJ">Anita Rechler</a> finds that, <span style="font-weight: bold;">while DC and Ward 6 population </span><span style="font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;">declined </span><span style="font-weight: bold;">from 1960 to 1970, the number of households actually </span><span style="font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;">increased</span><span style="font-weight: bold;">.</span> This shift resulted from:<br />
<ul>
<li>the renovation movement, which began even by the late 1940s and attracted white, young professionals often with no children.</li>
<li>the movement of white families with children to the suburbs (since 1920) and to predominantly white areas elsewhere in DC, which increased after the 1954 court ruling desegregating schools. The change was quite abrupt. As I found in my own research, in 1954 when integration began, the Stanton Elementary School in Ward 8 had a 100% white student population; by 1960 it had 75% African American and 25% white students.</li>
</ul>
Using Census data and real estate transactions in the Lusk Real Estate Directory, Rechler examines the changes across the Hill between 1960 and 1970. In this map of 1970, the purple-blue are areas with many renovations (Restoration area), while the light blue are transitional areas with fewer, though numerous renovations (Transition area) and the yellow areas have few renovations (Unrestored area).<br />
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<iframe frameborder="0" height="350" marginheight="0" marginwidth="0" scrolling="no" src="https://maps.google.com/maps/ms?msa=0&msid=205036050960293696754.0004b4c3751724e80c4b9&hl=en&ie=UTF8&ll=38.88578,-76.986344&spn=0.028801,0.045487&t=m&vpsrc=6&output=embed" width="425"></iframe><br />
<small>View <a href="http://maps.google.com/maps/ms?msa=0&msid=205036050960293696754.0004b4c3751724e80c4b9&hl=en&ie=UTF8&ll=38.88578,-76.986344&spn=0.028801,0.045487&t=m&vpsrc=6&source=embed" style="color: blue; text-align: left;">Ward 6 Renovation Map (1970)</a> in a larger map</small><br />
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She states that by 1958 over 100 houses each year were being renovated. <span style="font-weight: bold;">Of course, </span><span style="font-weight: bold;">renovating and improving buildings is a good thing. Yet, this trend had several problematic consequences. Areas became more segregated by race and class between 1960 and 1970.</span> The renovation movement allowed certain groups -- white professionals and real estate developers -- to benefit from or take advantage of racist attitudes and racial/class inequalities to hoard opportunities. (Sociologists <a href="http://www.gsdrc.org/go/display&type=Document&id=3654">Charles Tilly</a> and <a href="http://mediamatters.org/blog/200708270002">Douglas Massey</a> discuss opportunity hoarding more generally.) In the Restoration and Transition areas, black homeownership and renting decreased, while white ownership increased. In the Transition areas, black and white renting declined, while ownership increased. In the Unrestored area, white ownership and renting decreased. In addition, the Restoration areas had households with higher incomes than the other areas. The renovation movement led to increased racial segregation, income inequality, and wealth inequality (due to shifts in homeownership).<br />
<br />
On Capitol Hill, Friendship House, Group Ministries, and other groups voiced great concern about the economic impact of the renovation movement on the low- and moderate-income families. Many of these families could not afford renovations (or were renters). <span style="font-weight: bold;">In 1972, the DC government proposed that south of North Carolina Ave and east of 1st St SE be made a Federally-Assisted Code Enforcement Area (FACE), which would have provided cash grants and low-interest loans for home improvements, thus allowing low- and moderate-incomes families to take part in the renovation movement. This proposal was never adopted.</span><br />
<br />
Rechler also interviewed real estate agents, community leaders, and residents. She shows that renovation was not a spontaneous activity. Rather, from the late 1940s, real estate agents were deeply involved in renovation and reshaping neighborhoods. Real estate agents had long been renovating houses themselves as investments. By the time Rechler conducted her research, larger developers started working on Capitol Hill. St. Clair Investments, a large suburban development corporation, began buying and restoring in 1973.<br />
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Especially with the Great Migration of African Americans to northern cities around the 1930s to the 1960s, discussed in an earlier <a href="http://sociologyinmyneighborhood.blogspot.com/2011/12/our-blocks-history-party_04.html">post</a>, real estate agents stoked the fears among white families that their neighborhoods were being taken over by African Americans. Real estate agents even hired African American women to walk around the neighborhood with baby carriages and did other tactics to motivate white families to sell their houses at a low price. The real estate agents would then sell the house at an inflated price to African American families, whom agents knew could not obtain regular mortgages. So, the agents would provide high-interest loans directly to them. The African American families often could not afford these inflated loans and pay for the maintenance of these still unrenovated houses. This is called blockbusting, which led to decay.<br />
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On Capitol Hill, according to Rechler, there was an additional trend of reverse blockbusting: "Real estate agents, brokers, and speculators use sales tactics and pressure practices to displace the poor and black from their homes in order to attract the white middle class." She was told that a real estate investor might call the DC government to report a house for possible housing code violations. Low-income owners could not obtain loans to make the needed renovations and thus faced the possibility that their house might be condemned. The speculator, however, would provide cash and thus pressure the owner to sell quickly. Speculators also quickly flipped houses to each other, driving up prices. According to Rechler, <span style="font-weight: bold;">the restoration movement</span><br />
<blockquote>
<span style="font-weight: bold;">is encouraged by a hyperactive real estate market</span> which vigorously solicits property to sell, real estate speculation which promises high profits for those who can afford the investment, and financial arrangements which favor the investor over the average homebuyer. In Capitol Hill restoration operates in a market where speculation is virtually uncontrolled and public access to information is greatly curtailed.</blockquote>
<span style="font-weight: bold;">The traditional real estate market for those seeking shelter and the speculative real estate market for those seeking profits have converged more and more lately. As we rely on our houses as part of our retirement or some form of insurance, we require that our houses increase in value. Yet, as they increase in value, it means that cities become too expensive for those with low- and moderate-incomes, even those who maintained and developed community in neighborhoods, which now draws people to move to these neighborhoods.</span><span style="font-weight: bold;"><br /></span></div>
</div>
Johanna Bockmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08212564448840979369noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6148895566137990424.post-15268667048504362462018-12-11T16:47:00.003+00:002018-12-11T19:10:44.438+00:00Social Haunting in Ward 6<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
In this blog, I have noted how gentrification often acts like settler colonialism. Gentrification is often portrayed as motivated by "pioneers" taking territory block by block. Those being displaced are often disparaged. (For example, see "<a href="http://sociologyinmyneighborhood.blogspot.com/2014/01/urine-and-early-forms-of-gentrification.html" target="_blank">Urine and Early Gentrification</a>" and "<a href="http://sociologyinmyneighborhood.blogspot.com/2013/04/eyesores-urine-smells-and-gentrification.html" target="_blank">Eyesores, Urine Smells, and Gentrification</a>" and "<a href="http://sociologyinmyneighborhood.blogspot.com/2012/10/washington-dc-as-global-city_31.html" target="_blank">Washington DC as a Global City</a>"). Real estate developers, area boosters, and elites encourage an amnesia about the violence done to communities and individuals by gentrification and settler colonialism by claiming that the displacement was "inevitable" or the former residents were "disorderly" or "criminal." But amnesia does not make the forgotten history go away. This social violence remains in the area as a kind of social haunting, as <a href="https://gtr.ukri.org/projects?ref=AH%2FM009262%2F1" target="_blank">"a sense, a feeling, a way of thinking, an atmosphere that pervades within a community, influencing its future in myriad, perhaps unnoticed, ways."</a> Have you experienced social haunting on Capitol Hill? <br />
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Sociologists like <a href="https://www.upress.umn.edu/book-division/books/ghostly-matters" target="_blank">Avery Gordon </a>have argued that we should pay attention to these ghostly feelings. They may be reminders of past social violence and may provide us insight into repressed pasts. They can also open up a variety of potential futures. These ghostly feelings may also explain why certain things happen around Capitol Hill. Here is just one quick example. <br />
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At 301 and then 324 Virginia Avenue, SE, Southeast House worked in the segregated community of Capitol Hill from around 1930 to 1962. Southeast House provided day care, classes for adults and children, after-school recreation, and many other things. The settlement house was run by African American women associated with <a href="https://www.historians.org/teaching-and-learning/teaching-resources-for-historians/teaching-and-learning-in-the-digital-age/through-the-lens-of-history-biafra-nigeria-the-west-and-the-world/the-colonial-and-pre-colonial-eras-in-nigeria/the-pan-african-movement" target="_blank">Pan-Africanism</a>. Ida Gibbs Hunt, a member of the organization that established the house, was one of the main organizers with W.E.B. DuBois of the early Pan-African Congresses in Paris. Howard University art professor <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lois_Mailou_Jones" target="_blank">Lois Mailou Jones</a> taught art there. She was one of the early innovators to use <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Les_F%C3%A9tiches" target="_blank">African masks</a> in modern art.<br />
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In 1962, the city leaders decided to place the new SE Freeway right on top of the Southeast House and a section of the Ellen Wilson Dwellings public housing buildings three blocks away. Forced out of the community, the Southeast House relocated to Anacostia.<br />
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The city could destroy the buildings, displace the residents, but they could not eradicate the spirit of Pan-Africanism. By the end of the 1960s, a mural appeared on one of the Ellen Wilson buildings that remained after the freeway project destroyed the others:<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgLwREoF2ojerH0sKg-vWT0YPB5_z3V9pP6cmmW0rsudUANeumFobJXhDMeF1UrreC1XkeXW2SV0jz0ooarCDRIo4mUdLm0wTdFC4smCFFpIE5_HAlenuX-TOxTYY7voZhWZq2txCnM1DLT/s1600/Ellen+Wilson+Community+Center.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="321" data-original-width="470" height="218" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgLwREoF2ojerH0sKg-vWT0YPB5_z3V9pP6cmmW0rsudUANeumFobJXhDMeF1UrreC1XkeXW2SV0jz0ooarCDRIo4mUdLm0wTdFC4smCFFpIE5_HAlenuX-TOxTYY7voZhWZq2txCnM1DLT/s320/Ellen+Wilson+Community+Center.png" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">Capitol Hill's historic preservation movement identified with the Victorian houses of the 1890s (and styles of other nearby time periods), which was the time of expanding colonialism worldwide and Jim Crow in the United States. In contrast, this mural represented another temporality, the temporality of <a href="https://www.historians.org/teaching-and-learning/teaching-resources-for-historians/teaching-and-learning-in-the-digital-age/through-the-lens-of-history-biafra-nigeria-the-west-and-the-world/the-colonial-and-pre-colonial-eras-in-nigeria/the-pan-african-movement" target="_blank">Pan-African</a> globalization and anti-colonialism. <br />
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In 1996, the city leaders destroyed the Ellen Wilson Dwellings and this mural. A couple of years ago, a block north of the old Southeast House, a historic African American church -- Mount Joy Baptist Church -- was sold and turned into the <a href="https://dc.curbed.com/2017/4/4/15178894/home-church-capitol-hill-churchill" target="_blank">Churchill condominiums</a>. In his early career, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Winston_Churchill" target="_blank">Winston Churchill</a> was Under-Secretary of State for the Colonial Office, a position that he had requested. According to a <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/worldviews/wp/2015/02/03/the-dark-side-of-winston-churchills-legacy-no-one-should-forget/?utm_term=.2089587fd287" target="_blank">2015 Washington Post op-ed</a>, "</span></span><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">As a junior member of parliament, Churchill had cheered on Britain's plan for more conquests, <a href="http://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1774&dat=19660421&id=whgiAAAAIBAJ&sjid=p2UEAAAAIBAJ&pg=7001,4869941" target="_blank">insisting</a> that its 'Aryan stock is bound to triumph.'" Racism and colonialism continue to haunt Capitol Hill, but the spirit of Winston Churchill must still contend with the much more international and local spirits of Pan-Africanism.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"></span></span>
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">Have you experienced social hauntings in Ward 6? </span></span></div>
Johanna Bockmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08212564448840979369noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6148895566137990424.post-19356173253114709512018-07-25T22:07:00.000+01:002018-07-26T00:07:52.153+01:00When "change" is really just more of the same<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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Yesterday, the <i>Washington Post </i>reported on the Takoma Junction development, which I discussed in a previous <a href="https://sociologyinmyneighborhood.blogspot.com/2018/07/report-on-wpfw-town-hall-on.html" target="_blank">post</a>. In the <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/trafficandcommuting/takoma-park-seeks-a-progressive-future-for-a-parking-lot/2018/07/23/1d7b4f92-8a16-11e8-8aea-86e88ae760d8_story.html?utm_term=.72e501f0c690" target="_blank">article</a>, a city spokesmen said, "I think it's about change. Change is hard." So, those who are against the developer's vision of the redevelopment are against change? What is this change? A local resident said, "To me, these are the things you do to adopt progressive values to changing times." At the same time, the city seeks to "[maintain] the unique character of the community." The <i>Post </i>was presenting the developers as part of the inevitable future and the opponents as stuck in the past. But what if the demands of changing times force Takoma Park to lose one of the things that is in fact the way of the future? <br />
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Yes, the Takoma Park Silver Spring Co-op (TPSS) is the future.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjH7Qn6vAMym-4TgmvGu1hM506cNl-7wtdD6v3u1441Ms9OlRfnynt7QkkHnQ_PgOdH5_Ex5SAP0u-EEP0-GxXwwYNFi1bNzyg26Or9SO9VI3z_ntXwN2eR6KFCLqQ8mGM-8HfFpkV3vlkG/s1600/Shalla.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="296" data-original-width="322" height="183" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjH7Qn6vAMym-4TgmvGu1hM506cNl-7wtdD6v3u1441Ms9OlRfnynt7QkkHnQ_PgOdH5_Ex5SAP0u-EEP0-GxXwwYNFi1bNzyg26Or9SO9VI3z_ntXwN2eR6KFCLqQ8mGM-8HfFpkV3vlkG/s200/Shalla.JPG" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Andy Shallal (image from Twitter)</td></tr>
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The proposed redevelopment is really just more of the same. As Andy Shallal, owner of the wildly successful Busboys and Poets restaurants, said at the <a href="https://www.facebook.com/wpfwdc/videos/10155626322736188/" target="_blank">WPFW town hall</a> on the Takoma Park redevelopment (around 51:48):<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
After a while [as a result of the gentrification of businesses], you start losing the essence of a community, you start losing the vibe, you start losing its soul. And it becomes just like every other place anywhere, anywhere in the United States. I'm amazed at how many of these new developments that are coming in, they look almost identical. Like everywhere you go, <i>they look identical</i>. Somebody comes up with an idea of having mixed-use with an open atrium at the center and a bunch of string lights across the center. And everyone is like, "this is so novel!" People get really excited. And they all come. It's like this worked here. Let's do ten of these. That's what happens. </blockquote>
When I happened to visit Bentonville, Arkansas (the headquarters of Walmart, not the reason I was visiting there), I thought, "This looks a lot like DC." The new buildings seemed to have the same architects as new DC developments. Cities, investors, and developers seek tried-and-true solutions, which leads to a homogenization, a standardization of cities that you see around the world. These solutions that developers tell us are the way of the future are in fact just more of the same, done over and over again. <br />
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The Takoma Junction redevelopment as currently imagined would endanger the TPSS Co-op, a thriving business. Among other things, the redevelopment would be on the parking lot used for deliveries and customer parking. With the redevelopment, the delivery trucks would have to park in the road out front. Thus the redevelopment would <i>de-develop</i> or <i>underdevelop </i>Takoma Park. How about expanding on the TPSS and embracing this model for the future?<br />
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Here are just a few thoughts about TPSS as the future: <br />
<ul style="text-align: left;">
<li>As a co-op, the profits from TPSS are distributed to the members and the workers, thus enriching the local economy. </li>
<li>TPSS sells products from local businesses, thus expanding the community economy.</li>
<li>TPSS could provide the basis for a <a href="https://www.academia.edu/36889525/Home_Rule_from_Below_The_Cooperative_Movement_in_Washington_DC" target="_blank">cooperative economy</a>, which has been successful in places like <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8ZoI0C1mPek" target="_blank">Spain</a>. </li>
<li>TPSS is also incredibly pleasant, a space that exemplifies democracy, equality, equity, and solidarity, which is also a space of the future. </li>
</ul>
But there are many other kinds of development envisioned by the Takoma Park residents, development projects that go beyond retail, such as <a href="https://cvtakomajunction.com/" target="_blank">Community Vision for Takoma Park</a> and another group seeking to "<a href="https://cvtakomajunction.com/2018/06/07/set-a-brave-and-bold-example/" target="_blank">set a brave and bold example</a>." Their ideas are not fear of change, but a call for real change in response to just more of the same. <br />
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<iframe allowfullscreen="true" allowtransparency="true" frameborder="0" height="315" scrolling="no" src="https://www.facebook.com/plugins/video.php?href=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.facebook.com%2Fwpfwdc%2Fvideos%2F10155626322736188%2F&show_text=0&width=560" style="border: none; overflow: hidden;" width="560"></iframe></div>
Johanna Bockmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08212564448840979369noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6148895566137990424.post-33593937013235798902018-07-20T22:20:00.000+01:002018-07-21T17:09:34.213+01:00Report on WPFW Town Hall on Gentrification<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
WPFW hosted a remarkable <a href="https://www.facebook.com/wpfwdc/videos/10155620018511188/?fref=mentions" target="_blank">town hall</a>, which brought together such interesting people and wonderful hosts. The concrete focus of the town hall was about a <a href="https://takomaparkmd.gov/initiatives/takoma-junction-redevelopment/" target="_blank">development </a>planned for Takoma Junction, but the discussion expanded from this focus to include gentrification, displacement, and development more broadly. You can watch the town hall <a href="https://www.facebook.com/wpfwdc/videos/10155620018511188/?fref=mentions" target="_blank">here</a>.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgS76QqGsKGIFAVX5Tvv8muLUgabZrzZGhslYXXqRkSV4vOtKt8XmNUcmi-HSHz5Cu8dDwuhHnLCR6rCb-4biPbVbFnzv861UcYcXKBrQKldc8-l8jfkfh8mpiriPTE9x3v_QQ4mKXeTs1y/s1600/WPFW+event.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="363" data-original-width="650" height="178" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgS76QqGsKGIFAVX5Tvv8muLUgabZrzZGhslYXXqRkSV4vOtKt8XmNUcmi-HSHz5Cu8dDwuhHnLCR6rCb-4biPbVbFnzv861UcYcXKBrQKldc8-l8jfkfh8mpiriPTE9x3v_QQ4mKXeTs1y/s320/WPFW+event.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://www.facebook.com/wpfwdc/videos/10155620018511188/?fref=mentions" target="_blank">WPFW Town Hall</a>, High School Student Emily Kombe speaking.</td></tr>
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Here is my report on some of the main issues that came up:<br />
<b><br /></b>
<b>1) Definition of Gentrification.</b><br />
There was a great interest in having some clear definitions. Here a composite definition: <br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
Gentrification is the influx of capital (business and housing investments) and new middle-/upper-income residents (the 'gentry') into disinvested urban neighborhoods. </blockquote>
According to this definition, gentrification depends on previous disinvestment in order for investors to make money and depends on disinvestment in other parts of the city in order to concentrate investment funds. Gentrification is part of a broader restructuring of cities for a new middle/upper income class, transforming low-status neighborhoods into upper-middle-class playgrounds, thus it is a kind of class conflict. Gentrification involves both physical and cultural/symbolic displacement, so that people may be made to feel displaced even if they still in the neighborhood. Finally, as many social scientists have discovered through interviews with those displaced, displacement is devastating and terrifying (See Atkinson's "<a href="http://eprints.whiterose.ac.uk/91040/8/WRRO_91040.pdf" target="_blank">Losing One's Place: Narratives of Neighborhood Change, Market Injustice and Symbolic Displacement</a>")<br />
<br />
<b>2) Commercial Gentrification.</b><br />
Gentrification can also happen to businesses. At the town hall, the owner of the Busboys and Poets restaurants, Andy Shallal, reported that his K St branch had recently been gentrified out because the rent had been raised 30% (the branch is moving across the street to a lower-rent building). The owner of Bikram Yoga in Takoma Park and elsewhere, Kendra Blackett-Dibinga, also said that she had been gentrified out because another business bought her building. Shallal complained that all the new restaurants and developments "look identical" and are making DC look like everywhere else. Jane Jacobs called these new developments "the great blight of dullness." These developments, like the proposed Takoma Junction, signal to investors and potential new residents that Takoma Park is ready for more investments, but they do not necessarily provide much for low-income residents. Such gentrification can also crowd out businesses catering to working-class residents. <br />
<br />
<b>3) Does economic development necessarily cause gentrification and displacement? </b><br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhIFvwm4NJMPWQoKw_8iqf-cMBQuTc7bJ6vHxAA7VPdiVEflibNU9cztdzUAqs3NETJySEVXTr2M3mmjMcW_eLL8ymIx1TA9mPTtOEoKwDarmk2_ksDPEBTGKIiMP0PNQbslLjWU6APdBAX/s1600/Huron+2018.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="499" data-original-width="324" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhIFvwm4NJMPWQoKw_8iqf-cMBQuTc7bJ6vHxAA7VPdiVEflibNU9cztdzUAqs3NETJySEVXTr2M3mmjMcW_eLL8ymIx1TA9mPTtOEoKwDarmk2_ksDPEBTGKIiMP0PNQbslLjWU6APdBAX/s320/Huron+2018.jpg" width="207" /></a>No, not necessarily. In the late 1970s, DC Mayor Marion Barry sought to transform DC into a cooperative city. He brought in <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cornelius_%22Cornbread%22_Givens" target="_blank">Cornbread Givens</a>, who had a vision of a city-wide cooperative system of producer cooperatives, consumer cooperatives, credit unions, housing cooperatives, and community cooperatives that would use the profits from the other cooperatives to provide services (health clinics, schools, etc). <a href="https://www.academia.edu/36889525/Home_Rule_from_Below_The_Cooperative_Movement_in_Washington_DC" target="_blank">Here </a>is a discussion of his vision (see from p. 71). This cooperative system would keep profits in the District and collectively owned by District residents. I <b>highly</b> recommend UDC professor Amanda Huron's new book, <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Carving-Out-Commons-Organizing-Cooperatives/dp/1517901979" target="_blank"><i>Carving out the Commons</i></a>, which also captures this alternative economic development alive in DC today. Takoma Park is in a wonderful position for this kind of economic development because it has the amazing <a href="http://tpss.coop/" target="_blank">TPSS Co-op</a>. <br />
<br />
One of the town hall participants, Sue Katz Miller, had earlier talked on WPFW and called for another kind of transformational economic development that might bring people together without having to buy things. Sociologists have found that the plans for mixed-income development do not result in the social mixing assumed by them. Places such as retail businesses, cafes, and restaurants are not conducive to such mixing, but schools and rec centers are better for such mixing. <br />
<br />
<br />
<b>4) Put renters first! </b><br />
Georgetown University sociology professor Brian McCabe has shown in his book <i><a href="https://books.google.com/books/about/No_Place_Like_Home.html?id=TRt8CwAAQBAJ&printsec=frontcover&source=kp_read_button#v=onepage&q&f=false" target="_blank">No Place like Home</a> </i>that homeowners often physically and symbolically keep renters out of their neighborhoods and out of public discussions. Renters are often seen as not committed to the community. McCabe finds that civic and political engagement is driven much more by residential stability -- living more than 5 years in a community -- than by whether or not one owns a home. Takoma Park is majority renters, so renters should drive the discussion, since homeowners have had their say. <br />
<br />
Well, there was so much more talked about by such inspiring people (including the amazing Emily Kombe, high school student in Takoma Park, and the TPSS workers)! </div>
Johanna Bockmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08212564448840979369noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6148895566137990424.post-668532361170870852018-07-19T19:40:00.003+01:002018-07-19T19:42:50.485+01:00WPFW Town Hall on Gentrification<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhjhreE-c-pkIhLw1rf0KEK5jp5-IWROuMrbwbdO76miI5m4d4EWKOX1vfSkwxGGMayxb-vM0s-kXfM7uOVe4iWB4Qbe5rBu76BuMHAqBTsYu905yLPXkF7Ab5A1kkHfgTLC4au-5svX28q/s1600/WPFW+flyer.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1361" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhjhreE-c-pkIhLw1rf0KEK5jp5-IWROuMrbwbdO76miI5m4d4EWKOX1vfSkwxGGMayxb-vM0s-kXfM7uOVe4iWB4Qbe5rBu76BuMHAqBTsYu905yLPXkF7Ab5A1kkHfgTLC4au-5svX28q/s320/WPFW+flyer.jpg" width="272" /></a></div>
I'll be talking about theories of gentrification as part of WPFW's Economic Development, Equity, and Social Justice Town Hall in Takoma Park tonight 6-8pm. There will be many amazing community organizers and local activists discussing their work.<br />
<br />
Here is the tentative schedule for the town hall: <br />
<br />
<b>ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT, EQUITY, AND SOCIAL JUSTICE </b><br />
<b>Schedule of Speakers </b><br />
<br />
6:00–6:05<br />
INTRODUCTION<br />
Michele Bollinger + Dara Orenstein<br />
<br />
6:05-6:20<br />
THEORIES OF GENTRIFICATION<br />
Johanna Bockman + Sabiyha Prince<br />
<br />
6:20–6:35<br />
THEORIES + PRACTICES OF GENTRIFICATION<br />
Johanna Bockman, Sabiya Prince, + Parisa Norouzi<br />
<br />
6:35–6:45<br />
JOBS + GENTRIFICATION<br />
Parisa Norouzi, Michele B., Mokie R., + Tiffany S.<br />
<br />
6:45–7:00<br />
MINORITY-OWNED BUSINESSES + GENTRIFICATION<br />
Andy Shallal<br />
<br />
6:57–7:00<br />
MUSICAL BREAK<br />
<br />
7:00–7:30<br />
A JUNCTION FOR ALL?<br />
Kendra Blackett-Dibinga, Sue Katz Miller, Emily Kombe, and Jarrett Smith<br />
<br />
7:30–7:40<br />
Community Comments<br />
<br />
7:40–7:45<br />
Panelist Responses<br />
<br />
7:45–7:50<br />
Community Comments<br />
<br />
7:50–7:57<br />
Panelist Responses<br />
<br />
7:57–8:00<br />
CONCLUSION<br />
Katea Stitt + Dave Zirin<br />
<br />
<br /></div>
Johanna Bockmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08212564448840979369noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6148895566137990424.post-37145613415630340012018-07-11T17:02:00.002+01:002018-07-11T17:05:05.716+01:00Fighting Gentrification Across the City (II)<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
David Rotenstein (<a href="https://twitter.com/iVernacular" target="_blank">@iVernacular</a> and <a href="http://blog.historian4hire.net/" target="_blank">historian4hire </a>blog) thankfully reminded me of another fight against gentrification: the lawsuit filed by Aristotle Theresa against the District's role in gentrification and displacement of African Americans. Does anyone have a link to the lawsuit and other related legal documents? <br />
<br />
Here is the updated list of battles against gentrification: <br />
<ol style="text-align: left;">
<li><b><a href="https://wamu.org/story/18/03/14/homeless-advocates-question-bowsers-plan-close-d-c-general-shelter-year/" target="_blank">DC General shelter</a> in SE DC</b>. The battle continues. Here is today's <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/dc-politics/weakened-dc-general-shelter-bill-draws-ire-from-homeless-advocates/2018/07/10/bf4db064-8465-11e8-9e80-403a221946a7_story.html?utm_term=.4082dced025a" target="_blank"><i>Washington Post </i></a>article: "The original legislation...called for a halt to all demolition and barred District officials from relocating any families in the shelters to the budget hotel rooms frequently used for homeless families." And, according to Amber Harding at Washington Legal Clinic for the Homeless, "It's a completely different bill...I went from protecting the health and safety of poor families by stopping the demolition to telling the administration they can do what they're already going to do." </li>
<li><b><a href="https://www.arcgis.com/apps/Cascade/index.html?appid=1947d8ca3b1d4a798fd0c0f576fed01e" target="_blank">Crummell School </a>in NE DC</b>.
</li>
<li><b><a href="http://friendsofmcmillan.org/" target="_blank">McMillan Park</a> in NW DC</b>. </li>
<li><b><a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/dc-politics/court-delivers-blow-to-dcs-plan-to-redevelop-barry-farm-public-housing-complex/2018/04/26/b8fa5db4-4975-11e8-827e-190efaf1f1ee_story.html?utm_term=.3365cdb1f555" target="_blank">Barry Farms </a>public housing in SE DC</b>. Here is the recent lawsuit: <a href="https://caselaw.findlaw.com/dc-court-of-appeals/1894575.html">https://caselaw.findlaw.com/dc-court-of-appeals/1894575.html</a><a href="https://caselaw.findlaw.com/dc-court-of-appeals/1894575.html" target="_blank">https://caselaw.findlaw.com/dc-court-of-appeals/1894575.html</a></li>
<li><b><a href="http://www.swtlqtc.com/2018/01/greenleaf-redevelopment-rfq-released.html" target="_blank">Greenleaf</a> public housing in SW DC</b>. </li>
<li><b><a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/all-opinions-are-local/wp/2018/06/07/a-tax-revolt-in-takoma-park/?utm_term=.d799f449ce7d" target="_blank">Takoma Park Junction </a>just outside the District</b>. </li>
<li><u><b>Aristotle Theresa's lawsuit</b></u> on behalf of Paulette Matthews and Greta Fuller, residents of Southeast DC, and Shanifinne Ball, who lives in Northeast DC, against the DC government. Here is a recent <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/dcs-policies-are-speeding-up-gentrification/2018/07/09/11737752-814b-11e8-b3b5-b61896f90919_story.html?utm_term=.bab479dbe229" target="_blank">Post op-ed</a> on this. From the July 4th <i>Post </i>article, "Classist, racist, and ageist" was how Theresa described District policies.</li>
</ol>
Let me know about other battles to add to the list: johanna.bockman@gmail.com</div>
Johanna Bockmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08212564448840979369noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6148895566137990424.post-21814837136209551662018-07-09T17:11:00.000+01:002018-07-09T17:11:03.893+01:00Fighting Gentrification Across the City<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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Every day I hear about people fighting to stop the DC government from giving away (or selling at very low prices) public land and buildings to private developers. The government does this by declaring this public property surplus. To surplus these properties, the Mayor must deem them "<a href="https://dmped.dc.gov/page/land-surplus-and-disposition-agreements" target="_blank">no longer required for public purposes</a>." The privatization of these properties means that they then serve the interests of the new owners/investors. Many DC residents do not agree that these properties are no longer needed for public purposes. DC residents regularly seek to stop this process and keep these properties public, in order to serve local needs. By succeeding, they help their communities, which makes DC an even better place to live. <br />
<br />
Here are the battles I have recently heard about (let me know about others you know about):<br />
<ol style="text-align: left;">
<li><b><a href="https://wamu.org/story/18/03/14/homeless-advocates-question-bowsers-plan-close-d-c-general-shelter-year/" target="_blank">DC General shelter</a> in SE DC</b>. As <a href="http://dcist.com/2018/06/what_its_like_to_live_at_dc_general.php" target="_blank">DCist</a> reported: “[Mayor Bowser] is foul for doing that. D.C. has money. Y’all going to
tear down an overflow for the homeless just to put the rich right here.
Why?” says Carlena Durbin, a 31-year-old who lives at the shelter
with her 10-year-old son and her spouse.</li>
<li><b><a href="https://www.arcgis.com/apps/Cascade/index.html?appid=1947d8ca3b1d4a798fd0c0f576fed01e" target="_blank">Crummell School </a>in NE DC</b>. According to Empower DC's June 29th newsletter: "At the request of Mayor Bowser, the DC Council is considering
the surplus and disposition of the 2-acre site of the historic Crummell
School, the heart of the Ivy City community, to a developer who will build
high-density, mostly high-cost housing. You may remember that Empower
DC worked with the community and submitted a proposal for the school
which would have created a one acre park, community land trust, play
ground, affordable housing, community health care, daycare and other
neighborhood-serving programs. Our proposal was rejected by the Mayor."<br />
</li>
<li><b><a href="http://friendsofmcmillan.org/" target="_blank">McMillan Park</a> in NW DC</b>. According to the <a href="http://friendsofmcmillan.org/about-us/" target="_blank">Friends of McMillan Park</a>: "The property was selected by the now-defunct public-private National
Capital Revitalization Corporation (NCPC) in a land swap deal for
Anacostia Riverfront property used to build DC’s baseball stadium. In
advance of a NCPC completing a Request for Proposals process, disgraced
DC Councilmember Harry Thomas, Jr. selected a sole-source development
team that proposed a scheme that included 1,200 units of housing in
buildings up to 10 stories tall, a 100,000 square foot shopping center, a
125-room hotel and conference center, and underground parking. This
team proposes to essentially bulldoze the entire park and pave it over
with dense urban development, leaving very limited open green space to
remain."</li>
<li><b><a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/dc-politics/court-delivers-blow-to-dcs-plan-to-redevelop-barry-farm-public-housing-complex/2018/04/26/b8fa5db4-4975-11e8-827e-190efaf1f1ee_story.html?utm_term=.3365cdb1f555" target="_blank">Barry Farms </a>public housing in SE DC</b>. I don't think that this is public property disposal, since the land is likely still owned by the DC Housing Authority, but it is an ongoing battle over buildings. As discussed in this <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/dc-politics/court-delivers-blow-to-dcs-plan-to-redevelop-barry-farm-public-housing-complex/2018/04/26/b8fa5db4-4975-11e8-827e-190efaf1f1ee_story.html?utm_term=.b1aba14a59aa" target="_blank"><i>Post </i>article</a>, the residents are concerned that they will be permanently displaced. </li>
<li><b><a href="http://www.swtlqtc.com/2018/01/greenleaf-redevelopment-rfq-released.html" target="_blank">Greenleaf</a> public housing in SW DC</b>. I don't think that this is public property disposal, since the land is
likely still owned by the DC Housing Authority, but it is an ongoing
battle over buildings. Greenleaf residents have fought for a long time for a "build first" model, in which no one is moved from the Greenleaf development and promises "zero displacement of current Greenleaf residents." Yet, as discussed in the Hill Rag article "<a href="http://hillrag.com/2018/06/11/dont-place-your-faith-in-build-first-model-for-greenleaf/" target="_blank">Don't Place your Trust in Build First for Greenleaf</a>," residents are still concerned that they will be permanently displaced. </li>
<li><b><a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/all-opinions-are-local/wp/2018/06/07/a-tax-revolt-in-takoma-park/?utm_term=.d799f449ce7d" target="_blank">Takoma Park Junction </a>just outside the District</b>. According to an <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/all-opinions-are-local/wp/2018/06/07/a-tax-revolt-in-takoma-park/?utm_term=.d799f449ce7d" target="_blank">op-ed in the Post</a>, Takoma Park residents "are most worried that their beloved food co-op, denied adequate parking and loading, might be thrown out of business," though I have heard from other residents that they are concerned with how such developments have raised rents in other areas of DC and displaced low-income renters. </li>
</ol>
As DC geographer <a href="https://georgetown.academia.edu/KatieJWells" target="_blank">Katie Wells</a> has discussed, DC has been disposing of public property for private consumption for at least the last 20 years: "City-level policymakers have sold schools, libraries, firehouses, and homeless shelters to developers of upscale gyms, luxury condominiums, and private art museums" (<a href="https://www.academia.edu/8675997/2014_Article_in_ACME_Policyfailing_The_Case_of_Public_Property_Disposal_in_Washington_D.C._" target="_blank">2014</a>: 474). Later, Wells noted, "Since 1998 the D.C. City Council has tried to sell 68 percent (or 15 out of 22) of its public shelters" (<a href="https://www.academia.edu/8675997/2014_Article_in_ACME_Policyfailing_The_Case_of_Public_Property_Disposal_in_Washington_D.C._" target="_blank">2014</a>: 484). You can see the <a href="https://dmped.dc.gov/page/land-surplus-and-disposition-agreements" target="_blank">current list </a>of public properties being privatized in DC right now. In her <a href="https://www.academia.edu/8675997/2014_Article_in_ACME_Policyfailing_The_Case_of_Public_Property_Disposal_in_Washington_D.C._" target="_blank">article</a>, Wells talks about how DC residents without homes and their allies stopped the surplussing of the Franklin School for years. Last year, the <a href="https://octo.quickbase.com/db/bgmd3dpcb?a=dr&dfid=33&rid=13" target="_blank">DC Government</a> privatized the Franklin School, which developers are using to create "Planet Word, an interactive language arts museum and education space." The goal of the activists, housing for those without homes, was not realized.<br />
<br />
Where are the other battles going on in DC? How can we help our neighbors in their fight to keep public properties for "public purposes"? <br />
<ol style="text-align: left;">
</ol>
</div>
</div>
</div>
Johanna Bockmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08212564448840979369noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6148895566137990424.post-75063947740460544362018-07-04T20:59:00.003+01:002018-07-05T00:06:51.685+01:00Back to DC<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
After spending the past 10 months in New Jersey, I am happily back in DC. I got a lot of academic writing done in New Jersey, which was the goal. Today I made some updates on the blog: adding links to new sociological tools and related websites/blogs, revising the DC Public Housing Radio page, and updating the Blog Index. I plan to blog soon! </div>
Johanna Bockmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08212564448840979369noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6148895566137990424.post-6191182057268552422018-05-23T23:22:00.002+01:002018-05-28T13:45:10.948+01:00 Removing the public from public housing: Public–private redevelopment of the Ellen Wilson Dwellings in Washington, DC<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
Just wanted to announce my article that was just published by the <i>Journal of Urban Affairs</i>:<br />
<br />
<b>"Removing the public from public housing: Public–private redevelopment of the Ellen Wilson Dwellings in Washington, DC"</b><br />
<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgh_QGDeW6gdfKLQ1kl2v2Luu1mfxdtNhWpkaH-g2EFI1iqMRiCGT3C-qCJc6d4BjjNRnWn9tCEbqAoo12vlKeMg6Ajr7_-QRfD66WsSk62WP46dEn__IAaqIMOr9gRBbg48CZtwb8HLAzO/s1600/journal+cover.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="350" data-original-width="235" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgh_QGDeW6gdfKLQ1kl2v2Luu1mfxdtNhWpkaH-g2EFI1iqMRiCGT3C-qCJc6d4BjjNRnWn9tCEbqAoo12vlKeMg6Ajr7_-QRfD66WsSk62WP46dEn__IAaqIMOr9gRBbg48CZtwb8HLAzO/s320/journal+cover.jpg" width="214" /></a></div>
In the United States, urban regimes have long brought together public
and private actors to provide public services. Given this, how do
public–private partnerships (PPPs) change public housing? To answer this
question, I examine a public housing project: the Ellen Wilson
Dwellings in Washington, DC. In 1993, the U.S. Department of Housing and
Urban Development awarded one of the first federal HOPE VI grants to a
PPP to demolish the Ellen Wilson Dwellings and construct the
mixed-income Townhomes on Capitol Hill in its place. The redevelopment
that was supposed to help the residents of the Ellen Wilson Dwellings,
in fact, permanently displaced nearly every one of them. I argue that
the PPP, within the context of the 1990s dismantling of the state’s
democratic accountability and welfare functions, allowed business groups
and homeowners to stage a coup and take control of the Ellen Wilson
Dwellings.<br />
<br />
If can't access a free copy of this article, please email me: johanna.bockman@gmail.com </div>
Johanna Bockmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08212564448840979369noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6148895566137990424.post-59085327161817959912018-04-16T22:52:00.001+01:002018-04-16T23:21:27.538+01:00Pruitt-Igoe Revisited, Part 2<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
I always find it surprising that all sorts of people can talk so
easily about the "failures" of Pruitt-Igoe in St. Louis without much
knowledge of the development at all.<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhamccNrYZ0cqlN_fZM1qbYa7rOmqExtKdrlOQDkKbSuUkjQKLSrLpnSRzWpHqJhJB7DXBRg8Oy0lOWHavaIk_tDjPGjbSv0ZkvL1roz-j_ucO2PYgKdunt6U0OZfe5GTN6ExB89ld50b2C/s1600/Pruitt-Igoe-overview.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="302" data-original-width="450" height="214" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhamccNrYZ0cqlN_fZM1qbYa7rOmqExtKdrlOQDkKbSuUkjQKLSrLpnSRzWpHqJhJB7DXBRg8Oy0lOWHavaIk_tDjPGjbSv0ZkvL1roz-j_ucO2PYgKdunt6U0OZfe5GTN6ExB89ld50b2C/s320/Pruitt-Igoe-overview.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Pruitt-Igoe in St. Louis, <a href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Pruitt-Igoe-overview.jpg" target="_blank">Wikimedia Commons</a></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
They usually repeat a conventional story, which I discussed in my <a href="http://sociologyinmyneighborhood.blogspot.com/2018/03/pruitt-igoe-revisited-part-1.html" target="_blank">previous post</a>:
in the 1950s, Pruitt-Igoe had been built with great acclaim and awards,
and then quickly
descended into chaos,
crime, and violence due to housing people (especially low-income people)
in multi-story modernist buildings, the lack of private property and "<a href="https://www.humanics-es.com/defensible-space.pdf" target="_blank">defensible space</a>" in public housing, the concentration of low-income
residents living separately from more wealthy people, the concentration of
African Americans living separately from whites, the arrogance of early urban planners (the false opposition of <a href="http://sociologyinmyneighborhood.blogspot.com/2012/08/why-does-jane-jacobs-matter.html" target="_blank">Robert Moses vs. Jane Jacobs</a>),
the chaos and disaster somehow inherent in public housing or somehow
associated with African Americans or low-income people, and so on. This
narrative assumes that public housing will always fail, the residents
must be freed from the space (even though they were always free to move
elsewhere, but likely had other constraints to doing so), and the
development must be replaced with a private alternative. The ease of
knowing and understanding this narrative suggests to me that it is a
fundamental American story or myth about cities, known perhaps
subconsciously. Who subscribes to this myth? middle-class people? white
professionals? gentrifiers? In its certainty and its lack of interest in
other perspectives, it resembles the <a href="https://sociologyinmyneighborhood.blogspot.com/2015/01/why-is-it-so-difficult-to-see-in-ward-6_1.html?m=0" target="_blank">perspective of colonial rulers</a>.
Colonial rulers project the inversion of their self-perception onto
others -- colonial rulers see themselves as orderly and productive and
the ruled as chaotic, criminal, and lazy -- which
justifies colonial rule and displacement. <br />
<br />
Let’s look more closely at the
narrative about Pruitt-Igoe and the reality. First, in contrast
to the conventional story mentioned above, Pruitt-Igoe public housing as it was
designed or constructed did not win any awards.(1)
Most references to professional architectural acclaim cite a 1951 article in <i>Architectural Forum</i>,
a Time Inc. publication for the building industry.(2) The article is
positive, but mostly about the cost savings and about the
“refreshing” park land on the site. The
article states that Pruitt-Igoe “might well set a new rescue pattern”
for other
cities filled with slums.(2) As Meehan (1979), Bristol
(1991), and others have documented, the budget of the already
cost-saving
design was, in fact, cut dramatically, leaving the buildings without
landscaping and the "refreshing" park land when opened in 1954.(7)
Pruitt-Igoe was not award winning, but was understood, at least by the
building industry, as low-cost housing. <br />
<br />
Second,
the
St. Louis business community supported the building of Pruitt-Igoe as a
strategy to encourage investment in declining St. Louis.(3) Public
housing construction as a development strategy was also practiced in
other cities, including on <a href="http://sociologyinmyneighborhood.blogspot.com/2014/01/1974-aia-architecture-tour-potomac.html" target="_blank">Capitol Hill</a> in Washington, DC. According to Chris Bacon
(1985), large-scale manufacturing in St. Louis, especially Anheuser-Busch, had
suffered losses in market share in the 1930s and 1940s and sought to expand
production with the help of new transportation routes and other public
infrastructure.(4) At this time, the building industries also suffered from the weakening economy.
Not a single major office building had been built in St. Louis between 1930 and
at least 1958.(4) Because St. Louis received federal funds from
the 1949 Housing Act, public housing construction was the only major building
activity in St. Louis.(5)
The city government supported expansion of industrial production through urban
renewal, destroying slums and displacing people away from sites for new
freeways, new production, and new middle-class housing. The Pruitt-Igoe’s site
was “the cheapest such parcel in St. Louis,” but it “will probably have grown
to be the best.”(2) On this inexpensive land, the
Pruitt-Igoe buildings doubled the density in the area, thus concentrating
low-income residents and making available the land of former slums for
expansion of industrial production and new infrastructure development. Thus,
the city government and business leaders understood Pruitt-Igoe as an
investment that would raise land and property values in St. Louis.<br />
<br />
According to this view, public and private housing should be built together. The
1951 article discussed above had a second section, giving equal importance to a privately funded
urban renewal project of middle-class housing to be built beside Pruitt-Igoe. The architectural sketches in
the article show modernist slab buildings much taller than those planned for
Pruitt-Igoe similarly surrounded by park land. In response to demand for such
units, these apartments would primarily be efficiencies. The same architectural
firm designed both the public and private housing. According to a journalist
quoted in the article, the major businessmen investing in this privately funded
project “had the kind of arithmetic which could appeal to the big companies who
have big investments in the downtown.” (2) The article and the major
business leaders supported both this private housing and public housing
together as a way to save the downtown of St. Louis.(2) <br />
<br />
Third,
government officials and business leaders chose a modernist
architectural style for Pruitt-Igoe that conveyed progress and thus
would lure investors to the city. Today, from the colonial perspective,
low-income residents are seen as somehow unable to live in high-rise
apartment buildings, while the wealthy are somehow able to live in these
buildings: <br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj6b4g-G5LhqIeKQs7HSazjRQ5dhS2YJyvMZbT6x-NgXim80xXVueiIuJqCBu9p0fCerk5BDrLWUxccsS_fkDxKCfBOjjQMDFzLaAudDJlKvifLNIHNHMwzNk19i0gjClfoYHpEHV3rA8DB/s1600/CityCenterDC_plaza.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="900" data-original-width="1200" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj6b4g-G5LhqIeKQs7HSazjRQ5dhS2YJyvMZbT6x-NgXim80xXVueiIuJqCBu9p0fCerk5BDrLWUxccsS_fkDxKCfBOjjQMDFzLaAudDJlKvifLNIHNHMwzNk19i0gjClfoYHpEHV3rA8DB/s320/CityCenterDC_plaza.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://sociologyinmyneighborhood.blogspot.com/2013/09/deconcentrating-poverty-or.html" target="_blank">Concentrated wealth</a> in modernist buildings today. City Center DC, <a href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:CityCenterDC_plaza.jpg" target="_blank">Wikimedia Commons</a>.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
At the same time, as
Bacon (1985) has argued, public housing had to function as a <b>stigma</b>.
According to sociologist Erving Goffman (1963), stigma is "an
attribute that is deeply discrediting" with two major consequences:
status loss and social rejection.(6) To create a stigma that would
encourage residents to leave public housing as quickly as possible and
enter the private housing market, the St. Louis Public Housing Authority
could not provide at Pruitt-Igoe the amenities of middle-class housing.
Furthermore, many
middle-class, white St. Louis residents did not support providing even
the most
basic amenities to low-income African Americans. As a result of this and
the drastic cost cutting, the buildings were already falling apart
already when opened in 1954.(7) From his extensive
archival research, Meehan (1979) found an extraordinary number of
problems,
including “The quality of the hardware was so poor that doorknobs and
locks
were broken on initial use, often before actual occupancy began.
Windowpanes
were blown from inadequate frames by wind pressure. In the kitchens,
cabinets
were made of the thinnest plywood possible…”(7) The consequences of
extensive
cost-savings were deadly. Within the year that the first resident moved
in, two
girls fell from the buildings, one from the seventh floor and one from
the
ninth.(8) The budget cuts created the stigma
demanded by the private housing industry and supported by middle-class
white citizens in St. Louis.<br />
<br />
With little knowledge of
the actual history of Pruitt-Igoe, people can rely on the colonial
perspective, which offers them a range of actors to blame for the
"failure" of Pruitt-Igoe: modernist architecture, urban planners, the
low-income
residents, African Americans, the St. Louis city government, public
housing,
the welfare state, and so on. The colonial perspective also offers a
perverse solution: the destruction of public housing and the
displacement of its residents. Today, the Pruitt-Igoe
public housing project is completely gone, replaced by a forest that has grown
in its place:<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgaoGWT1RrE2FIXpCmjY0Vsn8Lx95jB7eY7T16irlWXSa7XBTE7HK3AofGsRMt7d0xJyXHVtJiBjQ0q50SfH6qZdgimiafdXQVl3xunjSiQRDk8pdrI5GU2x5FOXdtfJr3HnRVGTS6hxgWA/s1600/Forest.png" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="454" data-original-width="575" height="252" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgaoGWT1RrE2FIXpCmjY0Vsn8Lx95jB7eY7T16irlWXSa7XBTE7HK3AofGsRMt7d0xJyXHVtJiBjQ0q50SfH6qZdgimiafdXQVl3xunjSiQRDk8pdrI5GU2x5FOXdtfJr3HnRVGTS6hxgWA/s320/Forest.png" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><div class="MsoCaption">
<span style="font-weight: normal; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">Forest at the former Pruitt-Igoe Site, July 2013 (Image by author).<span style="mso-no-proof: yes;"></span></span></div>
</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
***</div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-size: x-small;">(1) </span><span style="font-size: x-small;">According to the AIA, “Pruitt-Igoe
is often cited as an AIA-award recipient, but the project never won any
architectural awards.” Sara Fernández Cendón, 2012. "Pruitt-Igoe 40 Years Later." <a href="https://archive.is/eR5z8" target="_blank"><i>AIArchitect</i> 19</a>.
The architectural firm had won an Outstanding Design Award from the AIA
for a different project (Cervantes 1974: 45). A. J. Cervantes. 1974. <i>Mr. Mayor</i>. Los Angeles: Nash Publishing.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: x-small;">(2) "Slum Surgery in St. Louis," 1951. <i>Architectural Forum: The Magazine of Building </i>94(4): 129-136.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-size: x-small;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-size: x-small;">(3)
The article in Architectural Forum identified the investors in the
private housing as "conservative business leaders" ("Slum Surgery" 1951:
135).</span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: x-small;">(4)
Chris Bacon, 1985. "Pruitt Igoe Revisited." Department of Town and
Regional Planning, Faculty of Architectural Studies, The University of
Sheffield. </span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: x-small;">(5) The
building industries supported public housing across the country for
similar reasons (Vale and Freemark 2012: 385). L. J. Vale and Y.
Freemark, 2012. "From Public Housing to Public-Private Housing." <i>Journal of the American Planning Association </i>78(4): 379-402.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: x-small;">(6) Erving Goffman. 1963. <i>Stigma: Notes on the Management of Spoiled Identity</i>. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall. </span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;">(7) K. G. Bristol, 1991. "The Pruitt-Igoe Myth." Journal of Architectural Education 44(3): 163-171; E. J. Meehan, 1979. <i>The Quality of Federal Policymaking: Programmed Failure in Public Housing</i>. Columbia: University of Missouri Press.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: x-small;">(8) R. Montgomery, 1985. "Pruitt-Igoe: Policy Failure or Societal Symptom." In B. Checkoway and C. V. Patton, eds. <i>The Metropolitan Midwest: Policy Problems and Prospects of Change</i>. Urbana: University of Illinois Press, p. 231. </span></div>
</div>
Johanna Bockmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08212564448840979369noreply@blogger.com0