Doctoral Dissertation Improvement Grant: Landscaping Discontent: Parks and Protest Movements in Paris

在艾达·苏瑟博士的指导下，纽约城市大学文化人类学博士候选人安德鲁·纽曼正在进行城市土地使用纠纷与民族、种族和阶级政治之间关系的比较研究。该项目将法国巴黎的城市土地使用纠纷与纽约市的类似纠纷进行了比较。在研究完成的纽约市，纽曼发现，只有当社区中产阶级化，运动变得更加白人和中产阶级时，改善城市某一部分的社会运动才会获得动力和影响。因此，城市规划的日益民主化与穷人和无权者的边缘化联系在一起。该奖项是为了支持该项目的法国比较阶段。这个项目是对巴黎北郊多民族社会运动的一个案例研究。该运动要求市政府在一个废弃的工业用地上建一个公园。这场运动取得了成功，但是，就像在纽约一样，这种成功与周边地区的中产阶级化同时发生。历史上，该地区一直是工人阶级居民的家园，其中许多是马格里布和西非后裔的居民。研究人员将对活动家和居民进行参与性观察和人种学访谈，以调查社区的社会、政治和经济转型。此外，他还将采访当地的专家，包括市政当局、建筑师和选择公园设计的人。本研究将比较这两个后工业化、全球化社会的城市和社会政策、移民和种族政治历史的差异，以及最近在低收入城市地区重建和再投资的相似经历，在这些社会中，城市重建是如何发生的，又是如何受到争议的。它将有助于研究当代城市交织在一起的社会、经济和政治转型。通过与法国研究人员的合作，该项目还旨在建立法国和美国人类学与城市研究之间的桥梁。除了学术贡献外，该项目的结果还旨在为法国和美国的城市规划者、城市决策者和社区领导人提供信息。

Under the supervision of Dr.Ida Susser, Andrew Newman, a doctoral candidate in cultural anthropology at the City University of New York, is pursuing comparative research on the relation between urban land-use disputes and ethnic, racial, and class politics. The project compares urban land use disputes in Paris, France, with similar disputes in New York City. In New York City, where research is complete, Newman found that a social movement to improve a section of the city gained momentum and influence only when the neighborhood gentrified and the movement became more white and middle-class. Thus increasing democraticization of city planning was associated with marginalization of the poor and powerless. This award is to support the comparative French phase of the project.This project is a case study of a social movement that arose in the multi-ethnic northern outskirts of Paris. The movement demanded that the city build a park over an abandoned industrial site. The movement was successful, but, as in New York City, the success was concurrent with the gentrification of the surrounding area. Historically, the district has been home to working class residents, many of them residents of Maghrebi and of West African descent. The researcher will do participant observation and ethnographic interviews with activists and residents to investigate social, political, and economic transformation in the neighborhood. In addition, he will interview local experts, including municipal authorities, architects, and those who chose the park design.The research will compare how urban redevelopment occurs and is contested in these two post-industrial, globalized societies with differing urban and social policy, differing histories of immigration and racial politics, but similar experience with recent rebuilding and reinvestment in low-income urban areas. It will contribute to research on the intertwined social, economic, and political transformations of contemporary cities. Through collaborations with researchers in France, the project also aims to build a bridge between French and American anthropology and urban research. In addition to its academic contribution, the results of this project are intended to be informative for urban planners, urban policymakers, and community leaders in both France and the United States.