Gentrification
Title: The Politics of Gentrification in Washington, DC
Class Day: Tuesdays
Time: 10:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m.
This course builds on core concepts from urban sociology to interrogate processes of gentrification and its resistances in Washington, DC. The course examines these dynamics as a microcosm and harbinger of wider urban transformations across the United States and much of the world. In particular, we will explore how gentrification reshapes cities and communities, particularly in terms of race, class, space, and culture. The urban ethnographic tradition is well suited to engaging students in experiential learning, and we will use this opportunity engage with city spaces not only in the classroom, but through firsthand immersion.
Dana Kornberg
Dr. Dana Kornberg’s research investigates the cultural politics of environmental institutions in both the United States and urban India, examining how racial and caste inequalities are institutionalized, experienced, and resisted. Her work spans analyses of territorial stigma and infrastructure in Detroit, resistance during the Flint water crisis, and the postcolonial dimensions of urban development and waste management in Delhi. Her current book project, based on over 20 months of ethnographic research in India, explores how informal recycling systems persist amid privatization. As an instructor, she connects social theory with lived experience, encouraging students to link analysis with social change.
