The double-edged sword of gentrification. From the chapter "The Appeal of Gentrification" We desire to be part of something new and exciting and cutting edge. Gentrification is just as much a social movement as it is an economic investment or seeking connectivity with historic roots. We even have labels for people who first move into “pre-gentrified” neighborhoods ... pioneer gentrifiers. We apply the label of “pioneer” to these “brave souls” who risk life and limb to move into the “hood” before the rest of the white middle class folks. Even by our usage of the term pioneer gentrifier we purport an arrogance by almost asserting that until these “pioneers” moved in these neighborhoods or districts were somehow less civilized and on the verge of urban barbarism. That is in essence the same mentality that we have applied to pioneers of yesteryear who ventured West in covered wagons carving life out of seemingly nothing. Yet we fail to realize that Native Americans had already been living there for thousands of years, but since they weren’t “our people” or “our skin color” then we can use the term pioneer which in many ways assumes an ethnic white cultural superiority ethic that is troublesome.
Posted on: Fri, 16 Aug 2013 00:01:18 +0000