Long-time Residents Research Articles

‘Now the German comes’: The ethnic effect of gentrification in Berlin

Compared to the United States, the relationship between ethnicity and gentrification is still understudied in the Western European context. However, while Western Europe does not have the same racial history as the United States, ethnic and racial divisions are still expressed through urban inequality. This paper, a study of small-business owners in an ethnically stigmatized Berlin neighborhood, shows how the gentrification process leads to the revelation and reification of ethnic boundaries between Turkish immigrants and their descendants and the so-called German majority society. It firstly finds that gentrification by Turkish-origin business owners is frequently understood as an ethnic remake that leads to the displacement of Turkish immigrants and their families in favor of non-immigrant Germans. The gentrification process is accordingly perceived, not only as a form of material dispossession, but also as a form of cultural dispossession in which the multicultural character of the quarter is erased. Second, the paper postulates that, in cases in which Turkish immigrant entrepreneurs adapt their businesses to the demands of new middle-class consumers, they tend to exclude the lower-income population in the quarter whom they mainly define as Turkish or Arabic. All in all, the debate presented in this paper shows how, in the German context, gentrification relates to prior forms of ethnic prejudice, discrimination and racism. It thereby also complicates the prominent discussion on the nexus between gentrification and displacement by showing that, even if long-time residents are not immediately threatened with having to leave, they still experience forms of exclusion that are entrenched with already existing structural inequalities.

Community Perceptions of Industrial Risks Before and After a Toxic Flood: The Case of Houston and Hurricane Harvey

The present study examines risk perceptions before and after a recent natural-technological event. The aim is to improve understanding of how long-time residents understand chronic and acute industrial risks, including hazardous industrial releases triggered by natural disasters. Thirty-two interviews were conducted in Channelview, Texas: 19 in February 2017, six months before Hurricane Harvey’s landfall, and 13 with those same residents in December 2017, four months after Harvey’s landfall. Results indicate that long-time residents normalized chronic risks of industrial pollution before the storm, but they were either unaware or incredulous that major industrial spills might result from a hurricane. After such an event, residents strengthened their normalization of industrial risks and became even more inclined to frame them as coming from external forces rather than from local facilities that continue to put their community at risk.

Just revitalization in shrinking and shrunken cities? Observations on gentrification from New Orleans and Cincinnati

ABSTRACTIn the last decade, shrinking cities have begun to gentrify, leading to optimistic narratives about their recovery. Redevelopment policies, however, can exacerbate social and spatial inequities if explicit efforts do not promote social justice. Drawing on evidence from Cincinnati and New Orleans, we explore 3 components of just revitalization: avoiding displacement, connecting longtime residents to new opportunities, and reducing decline in neighborhoods that are not revitalizing. The article then examines 3 reasons these objectives have been difficult to achieve: the timing of anti-displacement policies, the mechanisms used to connect long-term residents to economic opportunities, and how cities address conditions in neighborhoods that are not growing. The analysis shows that the cities are adopting mechanisms to spread the benefits of revitalization, but without explicit policies targeting low- and moderate-income residents, neighborhoods in shrinking cities can become unaffordable and gentrification will increase inequity.

Who Participates in Local Government? Evidence from Meeting Minutes

Scholars and policymakers have highlighted institutions that enable community participation as a potential buffer against existing political inequalities. Yet these venues may bias policy discussions in favor of an unrepresentative group of individuals. To explore who participates, we compile a novel data set by coding thousands of instances of citizens speaking at planning and zoning board meetings concerning housing development. We match individuals to a voter file to investigate local political participation in housing and development policy. We find that individuals who are older, male, longtime residents, voters in local elections, and homeowners are significantly more likely to participate in these meetings. These individuals overwhelmingly (and to a much greater degree than the general public) oppose new housing construction. These participatory inequalities have important policy implications and may be contributing to rising housing costs.

Grappling with Growth: Perceptions of Development and Preservation in Faster- and Slower-Growing Amenity Communities*

Amenity-rich rural communities attract tourists, retirees, second-home owners, and others whose values are often assumed to conflict with those of longtime residents. While prior research has examined attitudinal differences across types of residents, questions about the effects of community growth on residents’ attitudes remain unanswered. This study examines whether and how seasonal and permanent residents differ within and across towns experiencing different rates of growth, and the implications of differences for attitudes toward community development and preservation. Results showed that permanent residents (both short- and long-term) perceived community development initiatives as more important to maintaining future quality of life than did seasonal homeowners. Further, community growth rates had statistically significant effects: residents of slower-growth towns attributed higher importance to both development and preservation initiatives than did residents of faster-growing towns. Growth rate was thus a stronger predictor of attitudes toward both development and preservation than resident type.

Toward a Multivocal Research Agenda on School Gentrification: A Critical Review of Current Literature

Debates on gentrification’s effects on public education motivated two independently conducted literature reviews about (a) how the increasing presence of middle- and upper-class residents affected public schools in gentrifying communities, and (b) what were gentrification’s effects on the schooling experiences of students who resided in the communities prior to changes in neighborhood demographics (i.e., long-term and racial and ethnic minority families). Drawing from 32 peer-reviewed studies, we find that, contrary to assumptions about gentrification’s universal benefits, the lower income and minority children of long-time residents did not always benefit from investments that usually accompany gentrification. Further, low-income and minority parents were often marginalized from middle- and upper-class social networks, and central office and school personnel were less responsive to their concerns and needs. Findings from this review reveal that existing research largely centers the perspectives of (mostly white) middle- and upper-class families in gentrifying communities. We propose a research agenda that centers critical perspectives and multivocal literatures to expand the field’s understanding of gentrification’s effects on a broader array of stakeholders and on public schools.

Migration by Necessity and by Force to Mountain Areas: An Opportunity for Social Innovation

This article discusses current European migration flows, their impacts on the European Alps, and future options for addressing issues of migration. It explores these issues from the perspective of regional development, taking into account the currently prevailing goals of economic competitiveness and local self-interest. It focuses on the Alps, a region in which rural areas are losing economic, demographic, and decision-making power due to outmigration. An end to outmigration in the Alps is currently unlikely, but there may be other ways to stem the resulting losses. Based on a review of migration literature and 3 case studies, the article explores ways in which programs for hosting and integrating migrants can also benefit long-time residents by contributing in many different ways to the development of mountain areas. From this perspective, efforts to integrate migrants can be seen as a form of social innovation that can contribute to the future of the entire Alpine economic space. Rather than focusing on drivers of migration or its humanitarian or constitutional aspects, the paper explores the potential benefits to all parties of a better integration of migrants into the host regions, and the possibility that this could become a model of social innovation. It suggests an agenda for research on how to reach this potential and agenda points for policy regarding measures to fulfill the potential.

No Country for Poor People

Since the creation of the European Union, anti-immigration rhetoric has traditionally been directed at non-European citizens. However, in recent decades hostility towards migrants has been extended to the rejection of EU citizens, to whom the European treaties ostensibly guarantee freedom of movement. In particular, the migration of the largest European ethnic minority, the Roma, within the EU has been accompanied by inflamed media reports and populist discourse laden with explicitly racist sentiments. Whereas the dynamics of Romani migration in the original Member States has received substantial political and academic attention, the movement of Roma people across newer Member States continues to be overlooked. An intrinsic assumption that Romani migration is a solely westward phenomenon has led to a failure to examine the role of Central and Eastern European states in generating exclusionary policies. Despite urgent calls from human rights activists about the intensifying violation of the legal rights of Romani migrants the situation has yet to be acknowledged or scrutinized by international organizations and academics. To shed analytical light on this under-researched area, the article presents an analysis of the impact of Polish immigration regime on Romani migrants and long-time residents from Romania. Drawing on data from official documents, activist reports, and semi-structured interviews the article traces the neoliberalization of Polish migration regime: one that mobilizes aggressive attitudes and behaviors towards the poorest and most marginalized European citizens. In turn, it argues that the deterrent tactics employed against migrants by the Polish State has its roots in the increasingly restrictive EU immigration policies and economic determinism of the Freedom of Movement and Residency Directive.

Bushler Bay and Hood View, 40 Years on: Gender, Forests and Change in the Global North

In 2017, Carol Colfer revisited the communities of Bushler Bay and Hood View on the Olympic Peninsula, where she had spent three years doing ethnographic research in the 1970s. The purposes were two-fold: to test several rapid rural appraisal techniques and, as emphasized here, to assess the changes that had taken place in the interim. The ultimate goal was to contribute to USFS efforts to collaborate more effectively with women and men in forest communities. Her findings suggest that changes occurred in three (or more) spheres: livelihoods, demography, and gender relations, each of which is discussed below for each time period. Striking changes include the reduction in logging with a concomitant shift toward tourism, the demographic shift to a more elderly population (many of whom are now ‘amenity migrants’), and a reduction in conflict and hostility between men and women and between ‘Locals’ and the USFS, some of which is replaced by dismissal and social distance between longtime residents and newcomers/environmentalists. The penultimate section discusses the losses and gains sustained by different elements within the communities; and the conclusions argue for the integration of the kind of information contained herein – complemented by ongoing facilitation – to strengthen truly adaptive, collaborative management of U.S. forests.

The Big Book of Canada: Exploring the Provinces and Territories by C. Moore

The Big Book of Canada: Exploring the Provinces and Territories by C. Moore

Immigration, Employment Opportunities, and Criminal Behavior

We take advantage of provisions of the Immigration Reform and Control Act of 1986 (IRCA), which granted legal resident status to long-time unauthorized residents but created new obstacles to employment for more recent immigrants, to explore how employment opportunities affect criminal behavior. Exploiting administrative data on the criminal justice involvement of individuals in San Antonio, Texas and using a triple-differences strategy, we find evidence of an increase in felony charges filed against residents most likely to be negatively affected by IRCA's employment regulations. Our results suggest a strong relationship between access to legal jobs and criminal behavior. (JEL J15, J18, J61, K37, K42, R23)

New Faces in a New Place: Long-Time Residents’ Perceptions of New Residents in an Oil Boomtown in the Bakken Oil Shale Region

ABSTRACTIn 2008, increased oil production in the Bakken oil shale region in western North Dakota sparked a rapid increase in population for the communities in that area. This study examines long-time residents’ perceptions of new residents moving into their community using quantitative methods. The findings reveal that long-time residents who reported an increase in fear of crime because of the oil boom in western North Dakota were less likely to have positive perceptions of new residents. In addition, long-time residents who viewed their community as a friendly place and its residents as trustworthy, and who attempted to interact with new residents, were more likely to report positive perceptions of new residents.

Evidence‐based consensus on opportunistic infections in inflammatory bowel disease

Evidence‐based consensus on opportunistic infections in inflammatory bowel disease

Causing a Ruckus: Complicity and Performance in Stories of Port Moody

This article is about the suicide of the chief of police of a small Canadian town, which - according to some - did not actually happen. While employed as a researcher and writer with a museum in Port Moody, British Columbia, the author heard this story as one of many told by the ‘old-timers’ who assisted with the writing of a history book. The controversy over the potential suicide provided the means by which this article reflects on issues of ethics, advocacy, and performance when doing public history. The main request of the old-timers was to ‘put the good stories in’ when writing the book. This expectation caused tension between the author and the museum, reflecting the divide between doing ‘history’ and ‘heritage’. This article draws on Anthropological theories of ‘complicity’ and performance in storytelling to make sense of the author’s role within the context of a museum working to record the stories of long-time residents. The stories of the old-timers were filtered through the lens of early 20th century ideas about gender, race, and class, and affected by a lingering frontier mentality. As such, they wished to see their town’s history told in a very specific way. The story of the police chief’s suicide betrayed this intent, allowing for an analysis of how these expectations can affect the way in which public history is done.

Does Deforestation Increase Malaria Prevalence? Evidence from Satellite Data and Health Surveys

Deforestation has been found to increase malaria risk in some settings, while a growing number of studies have found that deforestation increases malaria prevalence in humans, suggesting that in some cases forest conservation might belong in a portfolio of anti-malarial interventions. However, previous studies of deforestation and malaria prevalence were based on a small number of countries and observations, commonly using cross-sectional analyses of less-than-ideal forest data at the aggregate jurisdictional level. In this paper we combine fourteen years of high-resolution satellite data on forest loss with individual-level survey data on malaria in more than 60,000 rural children in 17 countries in Africa, and fever in more than 470,000 rural children in 41 countries in Latin America, Africa, and Asia. Adhering to methods that we pre-specified in a pre-analysis plan, we tested ex-ante hypotheses derived from previous literature. We did not find that deforestation increases malaria prevalence nor that intermediate levels of forest cover have higher malaria prevalence. Our findings differ from most previous empirical studies, which found that deforestation is associated with greater malaria prevalence in other contexts. We speculate that this difference may be because deforestation in Africa is largely driven by the slow expansion of subsistence or smallholder agriculture for domestic use by long-time residents in stable socio-economic settings rather than by rapid clearing for market-driven agricultural exports by new frontier migrants as in Latin America and Asia. Our results imply that at least in Africa anti-malarial efforts should focus on other proven interventions such as bed nets, spraying, and housing improvements. Forest conservation efforts should focus on securing other benefits of forests, including carbon storage, biodiversity habitat, clean water provision, and other goods and services.

Malaria prevalence in Mangaluru city area in the southwestern coastal region of India

BackgroundMalaria is highly prevalent in many parts of India and the Indian subcontinent. Mangaluru, a city in the southwest coastal region of Karnataka state in India, and surrounding areas are malaria endemic with 10–12 annual parasite index. Despite high endemicity, to-date, very little has been reported on the epidemiology and burden of malaria in this area.MethodsA cross-sectional surveillance of malaria cases was performed among 900 febrile symptomatic native people (long-time residents) and immigrant labourers (temporary residents) living in Mangaluru city area. During each of dry, rainy, and end of rainy season, blood samples from a group of 300 randomly selected symptomatic people were screened for malaria infection. Data on socio-demographic, literacy, knowledge of malaria, and treatment-seeking behaviour were collected to understand the socio-demographic contributions to malaria menace in this region.ResultsMalaria is prevalent in Mangaluru region throughout the year and Plasmodium vivax is predominant species compared to Plasmodium falciparum. The infection frequency was found to be high during rainy season. Infections were markedly higher in males than females, and in adults aged 16–45 years than both younger and older age groups. Also, malaria incidence was high among immigrants compared to native population. In both groups, infection rate was directly correlated with their literacy level, knowledge on malaria, dwelling environment, and protective measures used. There was also a significant difference in treatment-seeking behaviour between these two groups.ConclusionsMalaria incidences in Mangaluru region are predominantly localized to certain hotspot areas within the city, where socioeconomically underprivileged and immigrant labourers are densely populated. These areas have inadequate sanitation and constant water stagnation, harbouring high vector density and contributing to high infection incidences. Additionally, people in these areas seldom practice preventive measures such as using bed nets. The high incidences of malaria in adults are due to minimal cloth wearing, and long working hours stretching to late evenings in places with high vector density. Instituting heightened preventive public measures by governments and creating awareness on using preventive protective and environmental hygienic measures through educational programmes may substantially reduce the risk of contracting infections in these areas and spreading to other areas.

Life in the Goldilocks Zone: Perceptions of Place Disruption on the Periphery of the Bakken Shale

ABSTRACTCommunity impacts from oil development in the Bakken Shale, located in the north central region of the United States, have been well reported in the press, including highly publicized accounts of social disruption. Less examined are communities on the periphery of such development, which experience related impacts unique to their location. Twenty-eight long-time residents from three Bakken periphery communities were interviewed to evaluate social and environmental impact perceptions, including perceived risks of place disruption. Findings suggest that whereas place meanings and identities were disrupted by the oil boom in Bakken core communities, they remain intact in these periphery communities. Findings further suggest periphery residents view their proximal location to the Bakken region as a social and economic “Goldilocks Zone:” close enough to benefit from spillover economic impacts, yet far enough away to avoid serious negative social impacts. This research extends understanding of place disruption and development impacts in energy periphery communities.

Race in Place: Black Parents, Family–School Relations, and Multispatial Microaggressions in a Predominantly White Suburb

BackgroundResearch has demonstrated the importance of understanding the multiple factors that shape parents’ relationships with schools, including the resources parents have at their disposal, their own educational histories, and the influence of school cultures and policies. Less is known, however, about how parents’ engagement relates to their everyday experiences across school and community spaces, particularly for Black parents in nonurban, predominantly White settings.PurposeThe purpose of this study is to examine Black parents’ school and community experiences in a predominantly White suburb and how their experiences and engagement may vary based on social class and gender (and their intersections).ParticipantsA socioeconomically mixed sample of 56 Black parents (16 men, 40 women) with children in Grades K–7 participated in the study, as well as 2 longtime residents whose children attended district schools.Research DesignThe findings are based on an ethnographic study of Black family–school relationships in a predominantly White Wisconsin suburb. The data include semi-structured parent interviews; field notes taken in monthly districtwide African American Parents (AAPO) meetings; an analysis of district and AAPO documents related to district resources, demographics, academics, and family engagement; and an analysis of census and demographic trends in the suburb and the broader county.FindingsResults reveal that parents supported their children's education in a variety of ways, and most parents valued the resources and opportunities the suburban district and community context provided their children. Yet parents described experiences with racial microaggressions in their interactions with school officials and community members. These microaggressions were often classed and gendered, and, for a number of parents, relived and reinforced in their children's schools. The results reveal both the everyday racism Black parents encountered in the predominantly White suburban community and school district, as well as the dynamic ways they navigated, resisted, and sought to change barriers to Black student and family success.RecommendationsThe research findings suggest the utility of educators recognizing the often racialized arenas many Black parents traverse in their everyday lives, legitimating parents’ alternative forms of engagement, and building on what parents are already doing to support their children's education and well-being. Given the growing number of students of color in suburban districts, educational researchers have both an opportunity and responsibility to engage in studies that interrogate urban-focused frameworks and explore the intersections of race, class, gender, and place in families’ experiences.

Closing schools is like “taking away part of my body”: the impact of gentrification on neighborhood, public schools in inner Northeast Portland

This “politically engaged educational ethnography” explores the role that gentrification played in the disinvestment of inner Northeast Portland neighborhood schools (Lipman, 2009, 216). Inner Northeast Portland, Oregon, USA, a predominately African American neighborhood, began gentrifying in the mid-1990s. As investment flooded into the neighborhood, its schools paradoxically declined, losing students and resources. As longtime resident families were displaced from gentrification pressures, newer white, middle-class residents utilized the school choice program to opt-out of sending their kids to the neighborhood schools. Facing declining community support, inner Northeast schools were targeted for closure or redesign. Despite these challenges, the longtime resident community was able to successfully resist some of the district’s attempts to shutter or remake schools, and Jefferson High School now stands as a rare example of how redevelopment can benefit all residents if the needs of longtime residents are put first.

Present and past uses of mangrove wood in the subtropical Bay of Paranaguá (Paraná, Brazil)

Although Brazil has defined mangroves as permanent preservation areas and banned the exploration of any mangrove resources, wood is still explored by underprivileged coastal populations. Restrictions regulating the use of mangrove wood are at odds with the social reality of many traditional or neo-traditional coastal populations that depend on this resource. The current social conflicts raised or intensified by a restrictive federal legislation clearly point to the need of less controversial management strategies. Knowledge of the present and past usage of mangrove resources is a necessary basis for the development of more viable and reasonable conservation strategies. In this study, we defined the current and past uses of mangrove wood in coastal villages of the subtropical Bay of Paranaguá, in Southern Brazil. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with longtime residents or community leaders. The main past uses were woodcutting for firewood and tannin extraction, sold or used for subsistence. Current uses are mostly related to fishing activities and have been restricted to personal consumption. The use of wood has declined in the last decades due to law restrictions, the increasing availability of new energy sources and new materials for fishing such as nylon nets. We suggest that natural forest turnover, combined with appropriate management actions, could allow for sustainable wood extraction in places where populations are small and mangroves are extensive, as in this subtropical estuarine system. Even though the current need for wood resources is not significant, the use of wood may help local residents in their daily needs and improve their quality of life.