Making the Pathways by Playing: Modes of Movement-Relevant Research in an Anti-gentrification Coalition

• In Event: 578 - Section on Collective Behavior and Social Movements Paper Session. Movement Relevant Research

Abstract

This paper describes the collective invention and use of games in an anti-gentrification coalition in New York City as a way to prompt inquiry into, and understanding of, community land trusts (CLTs). The New York City Community Land Initiative, or NYCCLI, is a three year-old coalition of homeless and housing activist groups, social justice advocacy organizations, and academic supporters that seeks to expand the use of CLTs as a way of securing permanently affordable, community-controlled housing for very poor New Yorkers. CLTs are community-controlled nonprofit organizations that own land and lease it back to providers of affordable housing and other community amenities with strong restrictions on affordability and use. For more than two years, NYCCLI has used games and similar exercises both to educate others and, in the making and playing of the games, to educate ourselves and to grow the coalition. Our understanding of “movement-relevant research” insists on such collective inquiry and dialectical pedagogy. In this paper, we discuss six exercises--including two games--in terms of their development, how they helped NYCCLI’s own organizing, and how their limits have spurred new inquiry.

Authors

• John Krinsky, The City College of New York

• Hillary Caldwell, City University of New York