What’s Black, White, and Penn All Over? Gentrification and Cultural Displacement in East Liberty

• In Event: 1483 - Open Refereed Roundtable Session
  In Refereed Roundtable 100min: Table 10. Gentrification and Segregation

Abstract

The East Liberty neighborhood of Pittsburgh is currently experiencing urban revitalization. While research in gentrification focuses on changes in population displacement, housing, economics, and race, less examines how cultural change affects longtime residents. This study examines cultural displacement, or the adaptation of tastes, norms, and behaviors to that of the gentrifying population. Data come from participant observation, interviews, and fieldwork in an ethnographic study of a facing block of buildings having a renovated side and an un-redeveloped side. I find that the black culture is receding in prominence in favor of the tastes and lifestyle of the white middle class who are entering East Liberty in part because of purposive policies to displace current residents and create space for newcomers. However, the newcomers try to distance themselves from gentrification in an attempt to integrate with the existing environment. Nonetheless, gentrification requires adaptation where in this case African Americans must conform to emerging white spaces.

Author

• Annette M. Mackay, West Virginia University