We started class today with an inspiring TED talk by Chimamanda Adichie speaking about the power of one story. The presentation and discussion that followed continued to challenge our stereotypes of people and brought together issues of race and gender, as well as race and gentrification. We continued to struggle with whether gentrification is a good for a community and where people go when they are ultimately displaced from neighborhoods.
5 Comments
Marionette
6/6/2013 12:21:59 pm
People complain about living in a dominant culture community since they feel left out. Maybe the solution is not diversity, but acceptance by the community and of the "outcast." Having communities with dominant cultures helps other people to engage and helps to educate themselves in a new culture. Instead of feeling like outcast within our communities lets try to embrace a new culture and be a part of it. I am not stating that I do not want diversity in a community, what I am stating is that if diversity is not there then embrace a new culture. Communities that are deeply rooted in their cultures are historically based. We should understand the reasoning.
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Tobin
6/6/2013 02:27:54 pm
During the class discussion, te main issue was being the minority of our neighborhood. It was hard to connect with this project because Astoria is diverse so there is different ethnicity and culture. But, when the discussion was in Elmhurst, Queens the dominant ethnicity was Asian. I kept thinking about how comfortable we have to be on order to accept others. Stores were mentioned and how there are a lot of and only Asian stores and how uncomfortable it is to be followed around and watched by the Chinese employers. Maybe the Chinese people are always cautious because they want to protect their community. They probably are overprotective because they now have a neighborhood they can call their own. Maybe this is how they feel if they enter a Hispanic store where they won't know what they are looking at or reading unless its fruit or Chinese. People need to learn to accept others if they want to be accepted.
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Rachel
6/7/2013 03:35:20 am
I am extremely conflicted when it comes to this topic. I find that it is difficult for a community to have both equal access to things while remaining un-gentrified. Supermarkets like Associated or even Whole Foods are supposed to cater to all people. However, these markets may put local or family owned stores out of business, which can lead to gentrification. If a community only has a family owned or local supermarket, it is more likely that this market will not cater to every person’s needs, since it may be more difficult for them to obtain certain products. This looks to me like it is difficult to have one thing without another and leads me to ask the question, can we really have equal access without some form of gentrification?
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Mandee
6/8/2013 07:26:42 am
There will never be a fixed opinion on whether gentrification benefits or takes away from a community. If gentrification was looked upon as a major issue, then there would be an attempt to keep it from furthering. But it is not. If gentrification was to benefit a community, then our class would have never debated against or for it. Where is it that these people go after being pushed out of their neighborhoods? We will never be 100% sure. But the question is, what will happen to most of New York's population when differentiation in social class no longer exists? As the wealthy continue to take over New York's communities, how will the impact affect the state as a whole?
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Gene
6/16/2013 07:04:59 am
Gentrfication is an issue that not only brings up many varying opinions but also some sort of conflict because it is just that; an intensely conflicting issue that resides in many areas of the city. We struggle to decide on one standppoint because we simply can't with it. It can be seen as a "bad" thing, but it can also be seen as a "good" thing. As the neighborhoods we have grown to love are quickly taken over and changed before our eyes for new pop culture stores and a new generation of people, we argue that this is both a positivie and negative thing because we want gentrification but not so much that it dominates what we know.
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