The next crisis that we will investigate is gentrification, particularly what has been called “The New York City Housing Crisis.” While we are somewhat leaving HIV/AIDS behind, the readings for this week will cover the overlap between the “aftermath” of AIDS and the development of gentrified neighborhoods.
I’ve emailed you the reading, which is 35 pages. In your response to this post, write about any one detail in Sarah Schulman’s discussion of gentrification that captured your imagination and explain why.
Whether on devices or printed, bring this reading to class on Tuesday, as we will be doing in-class activities with it.
Christian Boyle
“Gentrification is a process that hides the apparatus of domination from the dominant themselves”
This was interesting to me as I had never thought of it this way. Those who take part in gentrification do not always realize that they are the ones who are gentrifying because they do not understand how they possibly could be. They arrive and assume that the way they found their neighborhoods is the way that they have always been, but that is almost never the case. As a neighborhood is gentrified, what made it once unique slowly begins to fade away into a new neighborhood with the values of those who gentrified it.
Erica Fedukovitch
I believe that the statement “Many whites over the centuries have come to New York explicitly to discover and live the dynamic value of individuailty in sync with community, instead of simply pastoring the way their parents and neighbors lived in their place of birth” speaks to the direct cause of gentrification. People from the suburbs, particularly caucasian people, have moved into low-income neighborhoods and changed the dynamic of the city, simply so they can live separately from how they were raised and discover new things. New York City appears to be the best place to start over in the eyes of those that are moving from different parts of the country. They see opportunity and diversity, which makes NYC very attractive and has changed the city immensely.
Brittany A Cevallos
“There are holes in the cultural fabric, and no one seems to be in tight control”.
Reading this quote made me think about the whole “hood vs lower Manhattan” discussion. Many of my friends would describe gentrification as a virus that kicks out local residents. Raising rent to kick out what essentially gave a neighborhood its background. For example Spanish Harlem isn’t going to be Spanish Harlem once the Latino community can’t afford their homes. When there is a certain public moving into a community they make it their own, but once they’re forced out and replaced the culture that made the hood what it is will be stripped away. If a culture leaves, the aesthetic behind the hood leaves as well, ending in another overpriced gentrified community.
Randolph Harrison
One of the biggest ideas that the author brings up is this sense difference between her generation and the present generation. She states that since there is no culture of action and protesting in newer generations, they do not question authority, nor are they conscious of the systematic workings of the government. Real estate firms are in complete control of gentrification, and most of the generation do not seem to realize the implications of it. When talking about her generation, she states that they protested all the time and developed a community that flourished in her neighborhood. In the present to her, she thinks that most of the younger generation just passively accepts their situations and don’t have the drive to change it.
“I saw people who were somehow both heros and freaks, because they had achieved the impossible and paid the high price of alienation brought by knowledge, as heros and freaks always do” This quote captured my attention because it talks about someone being a hero and a freak at the same time. I think this quote is referring to Act up members, because we see them now as heros for standing up for what was right, but at the time many people made them feel alienated as well as treated them as freaks. I think that it’s interesting how you can describe the same people as heros and freaks, and the only difference is the time period. This shows just how much a population can change over a short period of time.
Jacob Kapustin
“Welcoming Danny into their home to watch the football game, offering him a glass of beer.” This quote really caught my attention, because it truly represented the traditional American family. The protagonist spoken about in the context is a lesbian college student who’s parents aren’t approving of her sexual preference. After she loses her lover to make her parents happy, and gets a boyfriend, the boyfriend is described using stereotypes of an American man. It has a powerful affect because it shows that her parents forgot about what made her happy, and instead welcomed a man into her life who she didn’t love.
“Eviction of the weak has always been a force in the development of New York…”
This particular sentence and the ones that follow that refer back to the time when Europeans drove the Native Americans out of their own lands stood out to me the most. Particularly because it reminds me of the fact that gentrification has been an ongoing process that dates back even to the pre-colonial period when the English and other Europeans came to the “New World” in search of a new life. From tribal lands, to colonies, to states, to the period of industrialization, to the period of urbanization, and even now when poverished neighborhoods are “gentrified”; the process will continue as gentrification is very much so deeply embedded within the U.S’s identity.
“The literal experience of gentrification is a concrete replacement process”
I found this defenition to be very precise and well put. It’s better than saying “white people are are kicking minorities out of the community”. I also like how she provided specific terms regarding culture and said how they were being replaced. It really sets a solid outline, almost like a thesis as to what she will be discussing.
“We are living in a fascinating, ungraspable time filled with potential and confusion.” I relate this quote because I am frequently in confusion, whether it be at something or someones reaction, including my own. There is potential in any interaction that we have as people; the potential to be let down, betrayed, or form a relationship. As there is potential for change in urban neighborhoods and the mind; there is confusion as to if it should be done. Do we shift our perspectives and admit the possibility for potential in that ordeal. Or, do we refuse to shy away from the norm. Is the shift wanted or even necessary? Confusion is an obstacle in daily life for many.
“The literal experience of gentrification is a concrete replacement process”
I believe this quote gets straight to the point without and explains exactly what it means. Gentrification is when the minorities of one location are getting kicked out and being replaced by wealthy people. So the location starts off as a slum and ends up being a high-end place. This is completely wrong and this should never occur. I like this quote because it is short and simple and gets right ti the point
The most interesting aspect of the article for me was the idea of periodizing gentrification, due to historical actions. This due to the influx of “white money” into areas. This is due because the only way for poor people to gain jobs during times of war was to go into the army. However, when it is over they go back to where they were, and the country needs more money, so taxes and prices evidently increase.
Which ends up pushing people out of where they live.