Project 1.ANT208 PDF

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Running head: ANT 208 RESEARCH QUESTION/PROJECT 1

Who’s in My Neighborhood? Ashley Zapata John Jay College of Criminal Justice Professor Butterfield October 16, 2019

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Running head: ANT 208 RESEARCH QUESTION/PROJECT 1 Who’s in My Neighborhood? The neighborhood I reside in is East New York, located in the eastern section of Brooklyn, which is a part of Brooklyn's District 5. Its boundaries are the neighborhoods of Cypress Hills and Ozone Park. It was once predominantly made up of working-class African Americans and Puerto Ricans with a very few White Americans. It has convenient access to transportation such as buses and trains that run fluently. As well as, a local public school for children located in the neighborhood. East New York has several playgrounds, parks, and ballfields that allows families and children to have a place to go. Long ago, I knew almost everyone that lived within my community. We would gather in front of our stoops, play music, have BBQ's and play games until the street lights came on. The older adults that lived in the community in the past would watch after the young children in the neighborhood and would genuinely care for the wellbeing of others, while parents worked. There was a sense of family and unity in the neighborhood. Recently, drastic changes have impacted the culture, unity, and the built environment within the East New York Community. The same neighborhood that was once labeled as dangerous due to high crime rates, deaths, and run-down apartments to a new wave of White American residents. It is undergoing a process of renovation, increases in rents, and major changes in the population that resided there which can’t afford to keep up with the new developments that are planned. When seeing and experiencing these changes, many thoughts and questions kept coming to mind. My main question is, “How does displacement due to gentrification affects African Americans and Latin Americans in the community of East New York? I found this question to be important because it explores how residents are forced to leave a neighborhood that they have resided in most of their life and be subject to conform to another neighborhood, culture, as well

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Running head: ANT 208 RESEARCH QUESTION/PROJECT 1 as, the instability to keep up with their increase of living. It also shows how displacement affects a family's dynamic and sense of belonging in a neighborhood. Interviews will be conducted on two people who have personally been displaced due to the rent increase in their apartment and have found it difficult to find a neighborhood where they feel welcomed, comfortable, and stable. In efforts to eliminate possible biases, I will also interview individuals who have recently moved into the neighborhood and see what is their view on the displacement of families. As well as, look into a development point of view on this issue. Along with interviews, I will also look into literature reviews that discuss other researchers’ conclusions and ideas on the issue of displacement. A development that I am interested in researching is the East New York Neighborhood Plan. It promotes opportunities for affordable housing, economic development, and improvements to community resources. I am most interested in figuring out, “What are the attempts to try to prevent displacement that is occurring in East New York daily?” Some sub-questions that I believe would be beneficial to my research is, “Does this displacement bring up certain feelings towards individuals that are White? How does it impact the culture that was once a part of East New York? As well as, how have they coped with this displacement? Have they been able to find a new place to live and how was that experience?” It allows me to get other perspectives on the issue and its effects on not only on them but also on the people in the neighborhood. In doing so, I will use different critical method approaches such as description, explanation, and arguments to conduct an engaged anthropology study. Also, using these types of approaches allows me to come up with a complex answer because it will provide different stories and attitudes on the issue of displacement. Overall, conducting extensive research on the matter will provide new insight into the displacement issue that intersects with gentrification in the East New York Community.

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