Podcasts from the SfAA

This is part II of a 2 part series, part I can be found here.

This recording starts about 1 minute into the session due to technical difficulties.

CHAIR: LOW, Setha

CHAIR: KESSLER, Bree (CUNY Grad Ctr)

LAWRENCE-ZUNIGA, Denise (Cal Poly-Pomona)

Confronting the Tastes of Preservationists and the “Other.”

Neighborhood gentrification resulting from historic preservation advocacy in suburban Southern California communities creates misunderstandings and tensions between homeowners, as well as between homeowners and city officials. This paper examines dilemmas confronted by an anthropologist investigating consumption practices in the social construction of preservationist identities and taste among upper middle class homeowners. Preservation advocates express a variety of opinions and emotions in constructing the “other” non-preservationist homeowners. These range from professing understanding with ambiguous discomfort to open contempt and hostility, even veiled racism, which leaves the anthropologist in a delicate situation about whether and how to intervene. dllawrence2@csupomona.edu (F-129)

NEWMAN, Andrew (CUNY Grad Ctr)

Park Activism: Place, Power, and the Politics of Ethnography in/of Public Spaces.

When neighborhoods gentrify, the struggles that arise between activists, profit-seeking interests and municipal governments are frequently centered on parks. This paper presents two case studies on the ethnic, racial and class politics that surround the “rehabilitation” of parks in New York City and Paris. In addition to describing “park activism,” I consider the role of anthropologists in park related politics. Each case study is marked by different forms of urban inequality and divergent roles played by city governments, and each case raises questions about how the ethics of engagement mesh with claims of expertise made by activists, planners, and ethnographers.
anewman@gc.cuny.edu (F-129)

CURRANS, Elizabeth (William & Mary Coll), SCHULLER, Mark (York Coll), and WILLOUGHBY HERARD, Tiffany (UC-Irvine)

Between Creativity and Conformity: Citizenship and Space in Santa Barbara’s Anti-War Movement.

Based on interviews with participants and our own involvement in recent antiwar mobilizations in Santa Barbara, California, this paper examines public spaces as sites for negotiation of the meaning of citizenship. Divergent political positions and tactical choices among people protesting the US government’s planned invasion of Iraq point to different forms of citizenship being enacted in the streets. In particular, patriotic claims to space, evident in the utilization of flags, banners highlighting military service and police escorts, were deployed in ways that marginalized more radical voices invested in direct action and broader cultural critique. egcurrans@wm.edu (F-129)

UDVARHELYI, Eva Tessza (Grad Sch, CUNY)

Betwixt and Between: The Challenges of “Translation” between the Critical Mass Movements in New York and Budapest.

Critical Mass (CM) is a form of bicycle activism that takes place in hundreds of cities worldwide. The histories of the CM in New York and Budapest reveal the significance of the socio-political context in shaping a global movement into specific responses to local realities. This presentation will explore some of my ethical dilemmas around the issues of 1) the constantly shifting and perpetually confusing nature of my double role as activist/researcher, 2) the often divisive differences between the local meanings of and relationships to the state, and 3) my attempts at creating channels of communication and acting as a translator between the two movements. evatessza@hotmail.com (F-129)

DISCUSSANT: LOW, Setha (CUNY Grad Ctr)

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Session took place in Santa Fe, NM at the 69th Annual Meeting of the Society for Applied Anthropology in March 2009.