Gentrification around the World: Gentrifiers and the Displaced
Editors: Judith N. DeSena, St. Johns University and Jerome Krase, Brooklyn College CUNY
Topics and Objectives
Gentrification around the World: Gentrifiers and the Displaced addresses the broad question: in what ways does gentrification affect cities, neighborhoods, and the everyday experiences of ordinary people. Historically, gentrification has taken place in many contested cities and we seek to explore both its tangible as well as its intangible elements. We envision this volume as a collection of readable scholarly essays, which analyze the process of gentrification in cities around the world through a wide range of disciplinary and interdisciplinary lenses. While the concept of gentrification has long been well-defined broadly by Sharon Zukin as “the conversion of socially marginal and working class areas of the central city to middle-class [and elite] residential use” (“Gentrification: Culture and Capital in the Urban Core.” Annual Review of Sociology. 13, 1987: 129), we welcome innovative variations on that definition. For Roland Atkinson and Gary Bridge it is an expression of urban colonialism (Gentrification in Global Perspective 2005) and for Loretta Lees, Tom Slater, and Elvin Wyly; urban neoliberalism. (Gentrification 2008) Today there are many new variations on these themes. In Race, Class and Gentrification in Brooklyn the editors noted that some view gentrification and displacement as “natural” outcomes while others also see them as inevitable consequences. As other scholar activists and urban social scientists today, we believe these essentially neoliberal and classic urban ecological responses are issues of social justice. For us, questions such as “Who has a right to the city?”, “What is urban justice?”, and “What is a just city?” require affirmative responses. (2016: 133)
The editors seek contributions that investigate the social, political, and economic significance of gentrification based on original research that has not been previously published. Topics, as they relate to gentrification, include but are not limited to: social class, neoliberal development, im/migration, housing, race relations, political economy, power dynamics, inequality, displacement, social segregation, homogenization, urban policy, planning, and design. Especially sought after are papers in venues outside of Western Europe and the United States of America, or those that use innovative approaches in any city. As to methodology, we are looking for contributions that utilize qualitative approaches in general, and more specifically, those that emphasize ethnographic and participatory methods. Visual approaches that interrogate the representation of gentrification in the arts, film, and other mass media, well-crafted cross-national comparisons, and engaging discussions of theoretical and practical issues are also welcome.
Target Audience
The volume is intended to provide readers with innovative, cutting edge scholarship on contemporary and, perhaps, future aspects of global gentrification. It is also meant to contribute to an ongoing dialogue and debate regarding the impacts of gentrification and other urban processes around the world. We believe Gentrification around the World will be of interest to academic and lay audiences seeking to gain a deeper understanding of the role of gentrification and displacement in the sociospatial dynamics of cities today. The main theoretical fields include: anthropology, architecture, cultural studies, ethnology, geography, history, planning, political science, and sociology. It will also be useful to professionals involved in governing, planning, designing, and transforming urban places and spaces such as policy makers, government officials, urban planners, designers, and architects. The book will be a good resource for undergraduate, Masters and PhD students who are studying and researching urban life and culture.
Tentative Submission Deadlines and Guidelines
After receiving you expression of interest, the editors will require an extended abstract of 500 words, or more, to be sent to them by email before September 1, 2017
The editors will then select chapter proposals based on the potential relevance to the book’s themes and goals, originality, theoretical rigor and envisioned quality of empirical data. All abstract authors will be informed about decisions via email. The selected abstracts will be included in a book proposal to publishers who have already expressed interest in a preliminary prospectus for the volume.
Given the acceptance of the proposal and offering of a contract, further instructions and guidelines will be shared with contributors.
Proposed Chapter Abstracts should be sent to:
Judith DeSena (desenaj@stjohns.edu), Professor, St. Johns’ University, Queens, New York
and
Jerome Krase (jkrase@brooklyn.cuny.edu), Emeritus and Murray Koppelman Professor, Brooklyn College CUNY
Please note that final paper length, format, and style will be determined by the publisher and will then be provided to authors.
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