Diaspora: A Journal of Transnational Studies, 1993
2. This quotation, of course, is taken out of context. Although Kasinitz is referring here to a s... more 2. This quotation, of course, is taken out of context. Although Kasinitz is referring here to a specific enactment of ethnic identity politics, I read him as raising the more general issue of the intersection of race and ethnicity in both conceptualizing and strategizing ...
RACE, RUBBISH, AND RESISTANCE 25 everyday sites and strategies of resistance has been pursued by ... more RACE, RUBBISH, AND RESISTANCE 25 everyday sites and strategies of resistance has been pursued by researchers inves-tigating oppositional forms of cultural production and consciousness among working-class youth (Hall and Jefferson 1976; Hebdidge 1979; Willis 1977), ...
ABSTRACT In 2003, Columbia University announced its plan to expand its Morningside Heights into a... more ABSTRACT In 2003, Columbia University announced its plan to expand its Morningside Heights into a 17-acre area of West Harlem known as Manhattanville. The University's expansion plan called for the acquisition and demolition of all but three buildings in the project's footprint and the construction of a state of the art campus over a roughly 30-year period. This article examines the discourses, debates and politics surrounding the project and, in particular, the University's demand for exclusive control of the site and ultimate pursuit of eminent domain. To that end, university officials claimed that the expansion would bolster the city's knowledge based economy and, as a consequence, serve the “public good”—a requirement for the exercise of eminent domain. By contrast, critics of the project argued for a mixed-use redevelopment plan that would include affordable housing and other community-defined amenities.
Association.7 The Civic Association, today composed primarily of East Elmhurst homeowners, saw as... more Association.7 The Civic Association, today composed primarily of East Elmhurst homeowners, saw as its principal goal the preservation of the community against the neighborhood decline that was being experienced in Corona. In 1961, largely as a result of pressure ...
There should be a study on terror but not to denounce its frightfulness, for that has been done e... more There should be a study on terror but not to denounce its frightfulness, for that has been done enough with both good and a bad conscience. Rather, its usefulness in certain social situations should be explained. Only when it is shown how appropriate terror is to governments and populations when, for economic or foreign policy reasons or because a new regime has to establish itself, a fresh and special stimulus is called for, only then will the true spiritual state of the society become apparent. The small minority that is sacrificed, the alleged conspirators, the traitor, the kulaks, the Jews, the foreigners, the communists, the liberals -how little they count, how much fun the masses get out of it, how readily they put up with the horror, how they enjoy it, and how significant the savings in the budget! I am not thinking of civil war as in Algeria, or of conquered countries where terror is a direct necessity, unavoidable, a kind of self defense, but of the terror people are talked into, terror as a practice of governments. Such a study is needed. Max Horkheimer [1]
There should be a study on terror but not to denounce its frightfulness, for that has been done e... more There should be a study on terror but not to denounce its frightfulness, for that has been done enough with both good and a bad conscience. Rather, its usefulness in certain social situations should be explained. Only when it is shown how appropriate terror is to governments and populations when, for economic or foreign policy reasons or because a new regime has to establish itself, a fresh and special stimulus is called for, only then will the true spiritual state of the society become apparent. The small minority that is sacrificed, the alleged conspirators, the traitor, the kulaks, the Jews, the foreigners, the communists, the liberals -how little they count, how much fun the masses get out of it, how readily they put up with the horror, how they enjoy it, and how significant the savings in the budget! I am not thinking of civil war as in Algeria, or of conquered countries where terror is a direct necessity, unavoidable, a kind of self defense, but of the terror people are talked into, terror as a practice of governments. Such a study is needed. Max Horkheimer [1]
Discussions of race and expressions of racism seem to be perpetual con-stituents of public opinio... more Discussions of race and expressions of racism seem to be perpetual con-stituents of public opinion. Ever mutating into new forms, some modern, some regressive, they register a steady high on the scale of political signif-icance. In the wake of the Clarence Thomas/Anita Hill ...
Annals of the American Association of Geographers , 2019
This article examines the development of the American Acropolis, a constellation of religious, cu... more This article examines the development of the American Acropolis, a constellation of religious, cultural, and educational institutions in Morningside Heights, New York City. I argue that, beginning in the 1880s, the elites governing these institutions took advantage of geography—specifically, the area’s elevation as a plateau—and their control over the built environment to achieve vertical secession, physically and symbolically, from nearby working-class communities and their associated industries. Over the longue duree, these elites viewed social secession to be conducive to, if not the necessary condition for, cultivating the arts of civilization. I examine the ensuing politics of verticality that accompanied this secession, pitting the institutions of the Acropolis against sectors of the real estate industry, railroad companies, and the ethnically and racially marked populations of neighboring working-class communities. Key Words: American Acropolis, materiality, Morningside Heights, politics of verticality, social hierarchy, social secession.
In 2003, Columbia University announced its plan to expand its Morningside Heights into a 17-acre ... more In 2003, Columbia University announced its plan to expand its Morningside Heights into a 17-acre area of West Harlem known as Manhattanville. The University's expansion plan called for the acquisition and demolition of all but three buildings in the project's footprint and the construction of a state of the art campus over a roughly 30-year period. This article examines the discourses, debates and politics surrounding the project and, in particular, the University's demand for exclusive control of the site and ultimate pursuit of eminent domain. To that end, university officials claimed that the expansion would bolster the city's knowledge based economy and, as a consequence, serve the "public good"-a requirement for the exercise of eminent domain. By contrast, critics of the project argued for a mixed-use redevelopment plan that would include affordable housing and other community-defined amenities. [New York City, university, gentrification, eminent domain, housing]
The COVID-19 pandemic has fundamentally altered our associational life and relationship to publi... more The COVID-19 pandemic has fundamentally altered our associational life and relationship to public space, revealing deadly inequities in access to health care and other resources, particularly in communities of color. In Harlem and other areas of the city experiencing neoliberal redevelopment, the response to the pandemic has also rearticulated public spaces, introducing new and diverse spatial uses and users, and providing low-income and working-class African-American and Latinx residents with increased opportunities to contest their exclusion from public and quasi-public spaces and the symbolic economy of gentrification. Based on ethnographic research conducted during the pandemic, I examine the ways in which black and brown residents of an area of West Harlem encountered, negotiated, and contested these race cum class-based, spatio-symbolic exclusions through infrapolitical practices and, in the process, demanded and exercised their “right to the city.”
This article examines the development of the “American Acropolis,” a constellation of cultural, e... more This article examines the development of the “American Acropolis,” a constellation of cultural, educational and religious institutions in Morningside Heights, New York City, during the late 19th century. I argue that the topography of “the Heights” did not merely enable possibilities and strategies for institution building, residential settlement and infrastructural organization; rather, it aroused and provoked the materialization of power-laden discourses, ideologies and relations of power that shaped the the spatial politics of the area, and the relations of its elite cultural institutions to surrounding working class and, largely, racialized populations.
Diaspora: A Journal of Transnational Studies, 1993
2. This quotation, of course, is taken out of context. Although Kasinitz is referring here to a s... more 2. This quotation, of course, is taken out of context. Although Kasinitz is referring here to a specific enactment of ethnic identity politics, I read him as raising the more general issue of the intersection of race and ethnicity in both conceptualizing and strategizing ...
RACE, RUBBISH, AND RESISTANCE 25 everyday sites and strategies of resistance has been pursued by ... more RACE, RUBBISH, AND RESISTANCE 25 everyday sites and strategies of resistance has been pursued by researchers inves-tigating oppositional forms of cultural production and consciousness among working-class youth (Hall and Jefferson 1976; Hebdidge 1979; Willis 1977), ...
ABSTRACT In 2003, Columbia University announced its plan to expand its Morningside Heights into a... more ABSTRACT In 2003, Columbia University announced its plan to expand its Morningside Heights into a 17-acre area of West Harlem known as Manhattanville. The University's expansion plan called for the acquisition and demolition of all but three buildings in the project's footprint and the construction of a state of the art campus over a roughly 30-year period. This article examines the discourses, debates and politics surrounding the project and, in particular, the University's demand for exclusive control of the site and ultimate pursuit of eminent domain. To that end, university officials claimed that the expansion would bolster the city's knowledge based economy and, as a consequence, serve the “public good”—a requirement for the exercise of eminent domain. By contrast, critics of the project argued for a mixed-use redevelopment plan that would include affordable housing and other community-defined amenities.
Association.7 The Civic Association, today composed primarily of East Elmhurst homeowners, saw as... more Association.7 The Civic Association, today composed primarily of East Elmhurst homeowners, saw as its principal goal the preservation of the community against the neighborhood decline that was being experienced in Corona. In 1961, largely as a result of pressure ...
There should be a study on terror but not to denounce its frightfulness, for that has been done e... more There should be a study on terror but not to denounce its frightfulness, for that has been done enough with both good and a bad conscience. Rather, its usefulness in certain social situations should be explained. Only when it is shown how appropriate terror is to governments and populations when, for economic or foreign policy reasons or because a new regime has to establish itself, a fresh and special stimulus is called for, only then will the true spiritual state of the society become apparent. The small minority that is sacrificed, the alleged conspirators, the traitor, the kulaks, the Jews, the foreigners, the communists, the liberals -how little they count, how much fun the masses get out of it, how readily they put up with the horror, how they enjoy it, and how significant the savings in the budget! I am not thinking of civil war as in Algeria, or of conquered countries where terror is a direct necessity, unavoidable, a kind of self defense, but of the terror people are talked into, terror as a practice of governments. Such a study is needed. Max Horkheimer [1]
There should be a study on terror but not to denounce its frightfulness, for that has been done e... more There should be a study on terror but not to denounce its frightfulness, for that has been done enough with both good and a bad conscience. Rather, its usefulness in certain social situations should be explained. Only when it is shown how appropriate terror is to governments and populations when, for economic or foreign policy reasons or because a new regime has to establish itself, a fresh and special stimulus is called for, only then will the true spiritual state of the society become apparent. The small minority that is sacrificed, the alleged conspirators, the traitor, the kulaks, the Jews, the foreigners, the communists, the liberals -how little they count, how much fun the masses get out of it, how readily they put up with the horror, how they enjoy it, and how significant the savings in the budget! I am not thinking of civil war as in Algeria, or of conquered countries where terror is a direct necessity, unavoidable, a kind of self defense, but of the terror people are talked into, terror as a practice of governments. Such a study is needed. Max Horkheimer [1]
Discussions of race and expressions of racism seem to be perpetual con-stituents of public opinio... more Discussions of race and expressions of racism seem to be perpetual con-stituents of public opinion. Ever mutating into new forms, some modern, some regressive, they register a steady high on the scale of political signif-icance. In the wake of the Clarence Thomas/Anita Hill ...
Annals of the American Association of Geographers , 2019
This article examines the development of the American Acropolis, a constellation of religious, cu... more This article examines the development of the American Acropolis, a constellation of religious, cultural, and educational institutions in Morningside Heights, New York City. I argue that, beginning in the 1880s, the elites governing these institutions took advantage of geography—specifically, the area’s elevation as a plateau—and their control over the built environment to achieve vertical secession, physically and symbolically, from nearby working-class communities and their associated industries. Over the longue duree, these elites viewed social secession to be conducive to, if not the necessary condition for, cultivating the arts of civilization. I examine the ensuing politics of verticality that accompanied this secession, pitting the institutions of the Acropolis against sectors of the real estate industry, railroad companies, and the ethnically and racially marked populations of neighboring working-class communities. Key Words: American Acropolis, materiality, Morningside Heights, politics of verticality, social hierarchy, social secession.
In 2003, Columbia University announced its plan to expand its Morningside Heights into a 17-acre ... more In 2003, Columbia University announced its plan to expand its Morningside Heights into a 17-acre area of West Harlem known as Manhattanville. The University's expansion plan called for the acquisition and demolition of all but three buildings in the project's footprint and the construction of a state of the art campus over a roughly 30-year period. This article examines the discourses, debates and politics surrounding the project and, in particular, the University's demand for exclusive control of the site and ultimate pursuit of eminent domain. To that end, university officials claimed that the expansion would bolster the city's knowledge based economy and, as a consequence, serve the "public good"-a requirement for the exercise of eminent domain. By contrast, critics of the project argued for a mixed-use redevelopment plan that would include affordable housing and other community-defined amenities. [New York City, university, gentrification, eminent domain, housing]
The COVID-19 pandemic has fundamentally altered our associational life and relationship to publi... more The COVID-19 pandemic has fundamentally altered our associational life and relationship to public space, revealing deadly inequities in access to health care and other resources, particularly in communities of color. In Harlem and other areas of the city experiencing neoliberal redevelopment, the response to the pandemic has also rearticulated public spaces, introducing new and diverse spatial uses and users, and providing low-income and working-class African-American and Latinx residents with increased opportunities to contest their exclusion from public and quasi-public spaces and the symbolic economy of gentrification. Based on ethnographic research conducted during the pandemic, I examine the ways in which black and brown residents of an area of West Harlem encountered, negotiated, and contested these race cum class-based, spatio-symbolic exclusions through infrapolitical practices and, in the process, demanded and exercised their “right to the city.”
This article examines the development of the “American Acropolis,” a constellation of cultural, e... more This article examines the development of the “American Acropolis,” a constellation of cultural, educational and religious institutions in Morningside Heights, New York City, during the late 19th century. I argue that the topography of “the Heights” did not merely enable possibilities and strategies for institution building, residential settlement and infrastructural organization; rather, it aroused and provoked the materialization of power-laden discourses, ideologies and relations of power that shaped the the spatial politics of the area, and the relations of its elite cultural institutions to surrounding working class and, largely, racialized populations.
This article examines the development of the “American Acropolis,” a constellation of cultural, e... more This article examines the development of the “American Acropolis,” a constellation of cultural, educational and religious institutions in Morningside Heights, New York City, during the late 19th century. I argue that the topography of “the Heights” did not merely enable possibilities and strategies for institution building, residential settlement and infrastructural organization; rather, it aroused and provoked the materialization of power-laden discourses, ideologies and relations of power that shaped the the spatial politics of the area, and the relations of its elite cultural institutions to surrounding working class and, largely, racialized populations.
This article examines the development of the “American Acropolis,” a constellation of cultural, e... more This article examines the development of the “American Acropolis,” a constellation of cultural, educational and religious institutions in Morningside Heights, New York City, during the late 19th century. I argue that the topography of “the Heights” did not merely enable possibilities and strategies for institution building, residential settlement and infrastructural organization; rather, it aroused and provoked the materialization of power-laden discourses, ideologies and relations of power that shaped the the spatial politics of the area, and the relations of its elite cultural institutions to surrounding working class and, largely, racialized populations.
This article examines the development of the “American Acropolis,” a constellation of cultural, e... more This article examines the development of the “American Acropolis,” a constellation of cultural, educational and religious institutions in Morningside Heights, New York City, during the late 19th century. I argue that the topography of “the Heights” did not merely enable possibilities and strategies for institution building, residential settlement and infrastructural organization; rather, it aroused and provoked the materialization of power-laden discourses, ideologies and relations of power that shaped the the spatial politics of the area, and the relations of its elite cultural institutions to surrounding working class and, largely, racialized populations.
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