Date of Award

Summer 2022

Document Type

Open Access Dissertation

Department

College of Social Work

First Advisor

Kirk A. Foster

Abstract

Scholars have increasingly recognized the sociocultural impacts of gentrification on Black residents. However, the gentrification literature lacks an empirically tested theoretical model on the nuanced ways gentrification may socially and culturally displace longstanding Black residents. Limited attention has also been given to factors that may moderate social and cultural displacement. Since place identity (i.e., one’s sense of belonging to a place) encompasses residents’ social and cultural connections to their neighborhoods, conceptualizing social and cultural displacement in relation to place identity helps to understand a potential moderating factor. Furthermore, although space and place dynamics of gentrification have been well-documented, gentrification research has primarily involved traditional quantitative, qualitative, and mixed methods approaches. Traditional approaches have limited most gentrification research to theory and descriptions, as opposed to action and practice. Toward this end, this dissertation study aims to: (1) propose a theoretical model of social and cultural displacement within a hegemonic U.S. gentrification context (i.e., the influx of Whites into historically Black neighborhoods) that centers race and place identity, (2) empirically test the proposed theoretical model, and (3) illustrate an innovative, action-oriented methodological approach (i.e., using photovoice and Geographic Information Systems’ (GIS) Story Map) to examining social and cultural displacement.

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