Tracing Vanport: Environmental Justice, Displacement, and the Reconstruction of a “Lost City”

Vanport建于1942/43年，位于俄勒冈州波特兰和哥伦比亚河之间，可容纳多达4万名涌入该地区为战时工业工作的工人。在短时间内，万波特成为全美最大的住房项目和俄勒冈州的第二大城市。由于其人口结构，范波特也成为俄勒冈州迄今为止最大的非裔美国人社区。1948年5月30日，一座旨在保护该市免受哥伦比亚河洪水侵袭的临时堤坝坍塌，万波特短暂的历史就此结束。该定居点从未重建，其居民不得不在附近的波特兰找到住所或搬到美国其他地方。然而，万波特的悠久历史只是在灾难之后才开始的。尽管官方忽视了这座城市，但这座城市仍然以各种方式存在，现在已经变得比仅仅记住一个溺水的地方更重要。万波特已经成为多样性、环境风险分配不均和对结构性种族主义的抵抗的象征。然而，与最近的记忆热潮相反，关于范波特的历史学术研究严重匮乏。这个项目从四个层面追溯了范波特的历史。第一部分将致力于范波特市民在城市存在的六年中的日常生活，即范波特是如何生活和工作的，他们是如何度过休闲时间和抚养孩子的。对范波特的多种族和多样化社会的分析将在事实上的州(俄勒冈州)和城市(波特兰)的背景下进行。该项目的第二个重点将是移民到范波特的经历和1948年洪水后的流离失所。第三，我们将讲述纪念和忘记万波特的历史，最后，我们将仔细审视遗址本身的悠久历史--包括它的环境特征、土著拨款、定居者社会的变化以及洪水过后的历史。因此，《追踪万波特》是第一个从复杂的整体和时间深度来审视这个特殊地方历史的项目。它将阐明环境正义、流离失所过程和灾难记忆之间的许多联系--在气候危机、结构性种族主义和士绅化时代，这些都是高度相关和重要的主题。

Vanport was built in 1942/43 between the city limits of Portland, Oregon, and the Columbia River to house up to 40,000 workers who had flocked to the region to work for the wartime industries. Within a short period of time, Vanport became the biggest housing project in the entire United States and the second biggest city in Oregon. Due to its demographic structure, Vanport also became by far the largest African American community in Oregon. When on May 30, 1948, a makeshift levee collapsed that had been designed to protect the city against Columbia River floods, the short history of Vanport came to an end. The settlement was never rebuilt, its inhabitants had to find accommodation in nearby Portland or move to other parts of the U.S.The long history of Vanport, however, only begun after the catastrophe. Despite the official neglect the city continued to exist in various ways and by now has gained an importance that surpasses the mere remembering of a drowned place. Vanport has become a symbol for diversity, the unequal distribution of environmental risk, and resistance against structural racism. Yet contrary to the recent memory boom, there is a significant dearth of historical scholarship on Vanport.This project traces Vanport’s history on four levels. The first part will be dedicated to the everyday life of Vanport’s citizens during the six years of the city’s existence, i.e. how Vanporters have lived and worked, how they spent their leisure time and raised kids. The analysis of Vanport’s multi-ethnic and diverse society will be carried out against the backdrop of a de facto segregated state (Oregon) and city (Portland). The second focal point of this project will be both the experience of migration to Vanport and displacement after the flood of 1948. Thirdly, the history of remembering and forgetting Vanport will be addressed and finally, the long history of the site itself will be scrutinized – including its environmental characteristics, indigenous appropriations, transformations by the settler society and its history after the flood.„Tracing Vanport“ thus is the first project that looks at the history of this peculiar place in its complex entirety and temporal depth. It will illuminate the many connections between environmental (in)justice, processes of displacement, and the memory of catastrophe – highly relevant and important topics in times of climate crisis, structural racism, and gentrification.