Abstract
Gentrification scholars have increasingly acknowledged the importance of socio-nature in encouraging the revaluation of place. Yet relatively little has been said about the role that non-human animals play in changing the material, sensory and affective qualities of place and the ways that they provoke capital investment. In this paper, we provide a corrective by exploring the role of the oyster in the ongoing gentrification of a coastal community (Whitstable in Kent, South East England). The complex natural and social history of oysters in Whitstable shows that how animal agency has contributed to processes of gentrification. Oysters are visceral objects whose affective qualities create hierarchies of taste and distaste through processes of desire and disgust. This animal is a marker of class change that positions the ‘local’ within wider circuits of consumption. Further, oysters are labouring bodies that reconstitute the coastal ecosystem on which the town depends. The arguments illustrate that non-human animals can be – economically, culturally and ecologically – vital and lively components within the dynamic material processes that support gentrification.
Highlights
Whitstable, once the home to some oyster beds and not much more, is the sine qua non of the London gentrification boom; a High Street full of cool restaurants, the odd chain, funky boutiques and vintage homeware stores; a seafront crammed with hipster homes and beach huts revitalised by their city-dwelling owners . . . It has oysters
The development of urban infrastructure geared towards coastal tourism can have a devastating impact on these species, with the introduction of jetties, boat-launches and waterfront housing destabilising ecosystems and displacing animal inhabitants of the coast (Phillips and Jones, 2006)
We suggest that the presence of such non-human animals at the coast is one of the attractions that draw in tourists and investors, helping to fuel processes of coastal gentrification
Summary
Whitstable, once the home to some oyster beds and not much more, is the sine qua non of the London gentrification boom; a High Street full of cool restaurants, the odd chain, funky boutiques and vintage homeware stores; a seafront crammed with hipster homes and beach huts revitalised by their city-dwelling owners . . . It has oysters. We suggest that the presence of such non-human animals at the coast is one of the attractions that draw in tourists and investors, helping to fuel processes of coastal gentrification.
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