COMMUNITY ACTIVISM IN OAK PARK: COMPETING AGENDAS ...

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The neighborhood of Oak Park is unique in its social, occupational, economic and industrial composition. The composition of the community groups created in Oak Park further reveal that there are occupational as well as social and economic disparities between middle-class and lower-income residents. Aspirations and expectations of the middle and lower class differ—some middle-class residents focus on creating social change in the community and form or join community groups to revitalize the neighborhood, create projects for women and children, organize the poor, or provide basic needs for the low-income. But, these projects and programs further mask the social inequities in the community, and may further enable the poor to become dependent on social services. Observations of community groups and non-profit organizations, detailed in this thesis, reveal that there are contradictions or “dilemmas of activism” in the work they carry out. These dilemmas of activism further reveal the complexities of social inequality among the residents of Oak Park. Agendas for change do not always benefit the poor and some residents and government representatives acknowledge that some initiatives for improvement do not improve the lives of the poor. These residents and government representatives confirm that the neighborhood is losing its diversity and that lower- income residents are being pushed out of the neighborhood by increased housing prices. Likewise, increased surveillance of public space in the community is causing social conflict among middle-class and lower-income residents. Dilemmas of activism illustrate that there the contradictions of revitalization projects and are unable to improve the quality of life for all residents in Oak Park. Revitalization projects seem to reinforce 122
social stratification in the community. In modern societies, the state and economy require unequal relationships to sustain themselves and therefore reinforce these relationships through political systems (Calhoun 1988:224). The most powerful agendas for change improve the quality of life for one group of people, the middle-class. They do not necessarily benefit the poor or provide them social justice in their neighborhood. Social justice cannot be realized under conditions of persistent inequities of resources (Qadeer 1981:167). In the neighborhood of Oak Park, space is characterized by conflict and struggle. Space is political (Keil 1998:624). In Oak Park, differential rights to the city can be seen through patterns of police patrol and surveillance, in cases of eminent domain, in agendas of revitalization projects, in grassroots projects aimed at helping women and children, and in efforts to organize and empower the poor. Tonkiss (2005:63) explains that people have competing claims in regard to whom a city is for and what is a city for, which fuel conflicts over space and power. In Oak Park, “claims to the city” are made by residents who want to improve the neighborhood with revitalization projects. At the same time, claims to the city are also made by lower-income residents who resist efforts of gentrification. The media also play a role in reinforcing middle-class claims to the city through highlighting and emphasizing that “urban renewal” projects function to beautify the neighborhood of Oak Park. The media generalize that urban renewal projects will change the blighted neighborhood of Oak Park into a lively and bright cultural center, where diverse residents can live harmoniously together. But this generalization describes Oak 123
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COMMUNITY ACTIVISM IN OAK PARK: COM
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COMMUNITY ACTIVISM IN OAK PARK: COM
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Abstract of COMMUNITY ACTIVISM IN O
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DEDICATION For my parents Joe and I
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I would also like to thank Joyce Bi
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Neighborhood Association ..........
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Chapter 1 INTRODUCTION: STUDYING TH
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different from themselves, they dis
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known about the residents who are l
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contested racialized images of thei
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Although the anthropological litera
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Research Focus The research site of
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Association was also gaining attent
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in city environments is exposed in
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Moffat (1992:217) states, “if man
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Choldin and Hanson (1981:562) defin
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neighborhood. The neighborhood thus
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the various definitions of “commu
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The City Chapter 3 SETTING The city
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stratified, selective, and distance
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people living outside the neighborh
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studies have demonstrated that reli
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In 1889, the Oak Park Association s
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edevelopment projects elsewhere in
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een lured to Arts and Crafts style
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ig black sunglasses, khakis, and a
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poverty. They and their comrades wo
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undesirable consequences; it can pr
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aiding in the dilapidation of the c
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Different types of social change in
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groups that are political and produ
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problems, events, and initiatives.
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Pertinent to the Neighborhood Assoc
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were to be the main participants in
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members, students, and sympathetic
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evitalization projects in the commu
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1990:138). Likewise, “The mission
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eports of residents marching down t
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Altheide and Michalowski (1999:476)
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organizations is part of a broader
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hours of the day and night and resi
Page 83 and 84: At a particular Neighborhood Associ
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Page 89 and 90: Rehabilitation programs would do a
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Page 93 and 94: were being made by middle-class res
Page 95 and 96: efreshments and appetizers and maki
Page 97 and 98: For three months I performed a vari
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Page 101 and 102: Convention Center in downtown Sacra
Page 103 and 104: more than two decades we have oppos
Page 105 and 106: The surveys for the Women’s Needs
Page 107 and 108: these residents were also affected
Page 109 and 110: professor, who was also a Neighborh
Page 111 and 112: twenty other residents in May to ma
Page 113 and 114: Most community members felt the sch
Page 115 and 116: coordinated with community revitali
Page 117 and 118: you sure you want to live here? Jus
Page 119 and 120: the community but are able to view
Page 121 and 122: esidents have “rights to the city
Page 123 and 124: are activists and non-activists in
Page 125 and 126: Ethnic entrepreneurs in American so
Page 127 and 128: such as milk, eggs, and toiletries,
Page 129 and 130: presence that would produce long-te
Page 131 and 132: eneficial to one group may not be b
Page 133: organizations conflict and tried to
Page 137 and 138: class does not view the lifeways of
Page 139 and 140: them. And the middle-class don’t
Page 141 and 142: in low-income neighborhoods. Among
Page 143 and 144: improve the quality of life for res
Page 145 and 146: NOTES 1 Neighborhood “revitalizat
Page 147 and 148: 20 The National Labor Federation (1
Page 149 and 150: Altheide, L. David and Michalowski,
Page 151 and 152: Boyd, Michelle Bridge, Gary 2005.
Page 153 and 154: Ertll, J. Randy 2008. “Celebratin
Page 155 and 156: Gupta, Akhil and Ferguson, James 19
Page 157 and 158: Jenkins, Timothy 1994. “Fieldwork
Page 159 and 160: Lee, A. Barrett, Spain, Daphne, and
Page 161 and 162: Marwell, P. Nicole 2004. “Privati
Page 163 and 164: Nylund, Katarina Oropesa, S. R 2001
Page 165 and 166: Rosenhall, Laurel 2005. “Charter
Page 167 and 168: Simpson, M.A. Lee 2004. Images of A
Page 169 and 170: Thacher, David 2001. “Conflicting
Page 171: Wolch, R. Jennifer 1980. “Residen
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