Minority gentrification: Re-evaluation of class and ethno-nationalism intersectionality

Abstract

The dominant stream of political geography research links ethnic or racial marginalization and class-based marginalization resulting from gentrification processes. This study presents a new phenomenon of “minority gentrification:” gentrification led by Arab entrepreneurs and business owners in the city of Acre which challenges the dominant research narrative and emphasizes the complexity of the relationship between class and ethnonational identity. Based on a qualitative research method including in-depth interviews with Arab business owners and lower-income Arab tenants, as well as analysis of policy documents and press articles, this study offers the term “stratified marginalization” to describe the relative advantage of Arab and business owners over lower-income Arab tenants. Simultaneously, it describes the trap in which they find themselves between their ethnonational and class identities and the explanations they provide for the gentrification process. Finally, the study describes the tension between Arabs from different classes as a result of gentrification. The research findings contribute to a re-evaluation of class and ethnonationalism intersectionality in a way that recognizes the benefits of gentrification for the middle-class ethnic entrepreneurs on the one hand, and the multiple margins of the lower-class ethnic tenants on the other.