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

追踪 Vanport：环境正义、流离失所和“失落之城”的重建

• 批准号: 505184602
• 负责人: Professor Dr. Uwe Lübken
• 金额: --
• 依托单位: Rachel Carson Center for Environment and Society
• 依托单位国家: 德国
• 项目类别: Research Grants
• 资助国家: 德国
• 项目状态: 未结题
• 来源: https://gepris.dfg.de/gepris/projekt/505184602?language=en
• 关键词: Tracing; Vanport; Environmental; Justice; Displacement

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.

范波特建于1942/43年，位于波特兰、俄勒冈州和哥伦比亚河之间，可容纳多达40，000名涌入该地区为战时工业工作的工人。在很短的时间内，范波特成为全美最大的住宅项目和俄勒冈州的第二大城市。由于其人口结构，范波特也成为迄今为止俄勒冈州最大的非裔美国人社区。1948年5月30日，一座临时堤坝倒塌，这座堤坝是为了保护城市免受哥伦比亚河洪水的侵袭而设计的，范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处或搬到美国的其他地区。尽管官方忽视了这座城市，但它仍然以各种方式存在，到现在为止，它的重要性已经超过了仅仅记住一个被淹没的地方。范波特已经成为多样性、环境风险不平等分配和抵制结构性种族主义的象征。然而，与最近的记忆热潮相反，关于范波特的历史研究却相当缺乏。第一部分将致力于在城市存在的六年里，范波特市民的日常生活，即范波特如何生活和工作，他们如何度过他们的闲暇时间和抚养孩子。对范波特多种族和多样化社会的分析将在事实上种族隔离的州（俄勒冈州）和城市（波特兰）的背景下进行。该项目的第二个焦点将是1948年洪水后移民到范波特和流离失所的经历。第三，将讨论记住和忘记Vanport的历史，最后，将仔细研究遗址本身的悠久历史-包括其环境特征，土著居民的占用，定居者社会的转变以及洪水后的历史。它将阐明环境（不）正义，流离失所的过程和灾难的记忆之间的许多联系-在气候危机，结构性种族主义和绅士化时期高度相关和重要的主题。