Race, Class, and Gentrification in Brooklyn

A View from the Street

By (author) Jerome Krase, Judith N. DeSena

Publication date:

12 May 2016

Length of book:

170 pages

Publisher

Lexington Books

ISBN-13: 9781498512558

In this book, the authors “revisit” two iconic Brooklyn neighborhoods, Crown Heights-Prospect-Lefferts Gardens and Greenpoint-Williamsburg, where they have been active scholars since the 1970s. Krase and DeSena's comprehensive view from the street describes and analyses the neighborhoods' decline and rise with a focus on race and social class. They look closely at the strategies used to resist and promote neighborhood change and conclude with an analysis of the ways in which these neighborhoods contribute to current images and trends in Brooklyn. This book contributes to a better understanding of the elevated status of Brooklyn as a global city and destination place.

Chapter 1: History and Demographics
Chapter 2: Ethnic Segmentation and the Defended Neighborhood
Chapter 3: Community Activism: Social Movements on a Local Level
Chapter 4: From “Out” to “In”
Chapter 5: Fostering and Fighting Displacement
Chapter 6: Tentative Conclusions

Krase and DeSena are seasoned researchers whose lives and work intersect with the spaces they interrogate and illuminate in this intensely detailed study. Greenpoint-Williamsburg, Crown Heights/Prospect-Lefferts Gardens, and the communities that live in these iconic neighborhoods are contested ground, where municipal policies, global economic and cultural forces, historical and systemic racism, and attachment to place ignite passions and spur community action against the forces that result in change, including gentrification. The benefit of the long view provided by both authors is a deep sense of context for contemporary battles to preserve affordable housing and self-determination. [The] theoretical framework and a clear politics provide structure to the study.... Summing Up: Recommended. All academic levels/libraries.