Doctoral Dissertation Research: Sweet Auburn: Contesting the Racial Identity of Atlanta's Historically Significant African American Neighborhood

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A growing number of scholars are addressing the complex relationship between race and place in United States society. An important strand of this research argues that places can be imbued with racial significance and meaning -- a process known as the racialization of place. Existing research effectively demonstrates how broad forces in society can racialize places. These studies have not fully explored the agency of racialized minorities who live and work in these places, resulting in a skewed and overly simplistic account. This doctoral dissertation research project explores the place-making agency of racialized residents, workers, and community leaders with a detailed case study of Auburn Avenue, the most historically significant African American neighborhood in Atlanta, Georgia. This project recognizes that places may carry multiple and potentially incommensurate racialized identities and that memorials can powerfully inscribe race into these landscapes. This project examines the complexity of racial identity formation and place making in the Auburn Avenue community by linking detailed analyses of archival data with open-ended interviews of key community stakeholders. It specifically examines the multiple efforts of African Americans to shape the identity and meaning of Auburn Avenue in the decades following World War II, including multiple memorial sites related to Martin Luther King, Jr. in the community. The doctoral candidate also will examine contemporary efforts to redevelop and revitalize the avenue in the context of Atlanta's economic and demographic dynamics.This project will redress the tendency of previous geographic research to homogenize racialized minorities as powerless victims through the identification of multiple and sometimes conflicting community stakeholders who seek (and have sought historically) to influence the construction of Auburn Avenue's racialized identity. By recognizing that African Americans have long been important place-making agents, though situated in an unequal power structure, this research will counter stereotypes of racial powerlessness. By exploring the multiplicity of racialized place identities and political ideologies shaped by Auburn Avenue's African American community, this research counters reified myths of singular and homogeneous racial identity. Furthermore, Atlanta is home to one of the nation's largest, wealthiest, and most dynamic African American populations, yet almost nothing is known about its place making power. Auburn Avenue provides an excellent case to deepen basic understanding of the complex and multiple ways that minority communities negotiate racialized identities of place in the context of metropolitan dynamism. As a Doctoral Dissertation Research Improvement award, this award also will provide support to enable a promising student to establish a strong independent research career.