Resonant Geographies: Gentrification, Place-Based Education, and Soundscapes of Displacement in Tucson, AZ

• In Event: AERA Roundtable Session Thursday 2:15 pm - Gold 1
  In Roundtable Session: Curriculum in Context: Literacy, Language, and Place

Abstract

This paper examines how place-based educational tools can enhance students’ understanding of spatial justice and cultural memory amid ongoing gentrification. Focusing on a historically Latinx neighborhood in Tucson, Arizona, this study utilizes a multi-sensory, place-based methodology to analyze how urban redevelopment impacts both educational environments and community identity. Drawing on oral histories, photographs, soundscapes, and critical geography, the paper demonstrates how students and educators engage with space and place through memory, emotion, and resistance. Schools are positioned not merely as institutions of instruction but as contested sites of historical erasure and future-making. This work contributes to growing calls for spatially grounded and justice-oriented educational research.

Author

• Imelda Guadalupe Cortez, University of Arizona