Spaces of Hope: The Intersection of Race, Space, and Education in Historic Englewood

• In Event: "When a Conjuncture Unrolls, There Is No Going Back": Education and Social Crisis in Chicago

Abstract

Purpose & Theoretical Framing
This research is situated in the middle of a pandemic during a year where racial unrest conjures spirits of the 1960s civil rights movement. Conflicts over urban space produced by racialized disinvestment, gentrification, and displacement are central to the crisis of legitimacy of the racial neoliberal order in Chicago. This paper examines the meaning of school space and implications for a transformative politics of place. I immerse myself in this research exposing my vulnerabilities as a Black woman, a parent, a researcher, and a 20 year urban planning professional. I borrow Fullilove’s (2005) “root shock” concept which speaks to the uprooting caused by urban renewal and extend it to draw a connection to uprooting schools. Analyzing the social conjuncture of school closures in this way situates this phenomena in a broader neoliberal framework using spatial theory and critical theories of race to provide deeper understanding.

Historic African American Englewood serves as the focal point of my research as it is a neighborhood filled with contradictions. School closures in Chicago sit amidst neighborhoods that are complex and wrapped in historical significance where race, real estate, and economics take center stage. I make a conscious effort not to discount lived experiences or contribute to what Eve Tuck (2009) refers to as “damage-centered research” which centers on pain and despair felt by marginalized people. Disinvested communities are filled with people who live and thrive on hope and a feeling of community that is socially constructed. Perhaps hope lives in the margins, but it is hope that indeed makes Englewood a contradiction.

Critical research underscores the importance of race, [de] construction of space, and power (Squires & Kubrin, 2005). Space is a powerful construct and the school space in particular has become a site of political, social, and economic resistance (Soja, 1996; Lipman, 2011, 2017; Fine, 2012; Lipsitz 2011). This research supports the idea of space being socially constructed, but further posits that resistance is experienced in multiple ways. Spaces can be safe havens, where communities congregate and strength is also born out of joy and happiness.

Methods
In this qualitative case study, I use a constructivist approach to analyze the current social conjuncture by using ATLASti to develop a thematic analysis of the multiple meanings of schools. Data sources include: transcriptions of public meetings, video footage of public meetings, newspapers, and 12 semi-structured interviews of Englewood residents.

Significance
Existing research on school closings focuses on population, building improvements, and poor performing schools (Dowdall, 2011). Other research looks at the impact of closings on school performance (Consortium on Chicago School Research, 2009). More recent research takes a critical view and situates closings in a broader political and economic context (Lipman, 2013; Pedroni, 2011; Goode, 2017, Ewing 2018). Absent in research on school closings is the community’s perspective on the meaning of schools. This paper builds on previous research and attempts to fill this gap. Preliminary data analysis reveal several emerging themes including reclaiming of spaces, fear of irrelevance or erasure, and collective joy.

Author

• Michelle Hoereth, University of Illinois at Chicago
  Presenting Author