Voices of the Displaced
University of Kansas- Nishani Frazier, Associate Professor of History and American Studies, University of Kansas, and Co-Principal Investigator, Stories for All
- Amanda Lawson, Assistant Director of Research for the L.I.F.E. Research Lab, Miami University
Project Description
Gentrification, the calculated reclamation of black urban spaces for financially affluent new homeowners, is spreading through black communities across America. After years of economic oppression and deprivation, the black community now stands at the edge of perhaps the greatest community dispersal in its history. Gentrification transforms the built environment, displaces masses of black people, steals capital from the most vulnerable, and breaks the once-sustaining bonds of community. The Anti-Gentrification Project is committed to fighting gentrification and its consequences by creating an archive that tells the story of how gentrification operates in cities like Cleveland and Durham, and also provides strategies for fighting that process. This is a digital storytelling project grounded in urgent need for action and explicitly designed as a call to action.
The next phase of this project will include the following components. (1) Create a digital, interactive map of stories and oral histories that provide insight into the strategies that make and unmake gentrification. (2) Assist activists, community organizations, and city officials create alternative narratives of sustainable living through inclusive, habitable spaces. (3) Construct a database on how to preserve historical and cultural spaces to provide one example pathway to future options for sustainability.
Partner Details
Nishani Frazier
Associate Professor of History and American Studies, University of Kansas, and Co-Principal Investigator, Stories for All
Bio
Nishani Frazier is Associate Professor of History at University of Kansas. Her research interests include 1960s freedom movements, oral history, food, digital humanities, and black economic development. Nishani’s recent book publication, Harambee City: The Congress of Racial Equality in Cleveland and the Rise of Black Power Populism, was released with an accompanying website also titled Harambee City. Harambee City website creates a second layer of book “reading” via online access to maps, archival documents, teacher lesson plans, and oral history interviews.
Amanda Lawson
Assistant Director of Research for the L.I.F.E. Research Lab, Miami University
Bio
Amanda is the Assistant Director of Research for the L.I.F.E. Research Lab (https://www.miamioh.edu/fsb/academics/entrepreneurship/focus-areas/social-entrepreneurship/leading-the-integration-of-faith-and-entrepreneurship-research-lab/index.html) in the Entrepreneurship Department at Miami University. She holds a Master’s degree in history from Miami University, and works with Faith Driven Entrepreneur and Investor as a writer. Amanda helped develop and teach Miami’s first course on faith and entrepreneurship, co-directed the 1st Annual L.I.F.E. Research Conference and advises for the L.I.F.E. Student Group. Amanda’s primary focus is academic research. Throughout her career, Amanda’s focus has been sustainable and community development.
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