The Ghetto: Contemporary Global Issues and Controversies

by Hutchison,Ray

• ISBN13: 9780813345031
• ISBN10: 0813345030
• Edition: 1st
• Format: Nonspecific Binding
• Copyright: 2011-08-30
• Publisher: Routledge

Summary

Despite strongly contested meanings, the term #x1C;ghetto#x1D; continues to be used as descriptor (of physical space) and as an analytical concept (to explain observed outcomes). Too often it is assumed that African American or inner city communities are ghettos. But what is a ghetto? Does it arise organically from cities, or is it a consequence of social conflict and government policy? Is the term an offensive oversimplification of social exclusion? Are the favelas, shantytowns, and slums of Europe, South America, and other continents similar to the American ghetto? The Ghettoinvites us to reexamine our assumptions by addressing these and other critical questions. This book brings together top scholars of ghetto-like communities in the United States, Europe, Asia, Africa, and the Americas to tackle the most salient topics in the field today. Concise, original essays describe essential arguments and discoveries, making this important scholarship accessible for all readers and students of urban studies and sociology.

Table of Contents

Introduction	p. vii
A Janus-Faced Institution of Ethnoracial Closure: A Sociological Specification of the Ghetto	p. 1
De-spatialization and Dilution of the Ghetto: Current Trends in the United States	p. 33
Toward Knowing the Iconic Ghetto	p. 67
You Just Don't Go Down There":Learning to Avoid the Ghetto in San Francisco	p. 83
In Terms of Harlem	p. 111
The Spike Lee Effect: Reimagining the Ghetto for Cultural Consumption	p. 137
Places of Stigma: Ghettos, Barrios, and Banlieues	p. 159
On the Absence of Ghettos in Latin American Cities	p. 191
Divided Cities: Rethinking the Ghetto in Light of the Brazilian Favela	p. 225
Demonstrations at Work: Some Notes from Urban Africa	p. 265
From Refuge the Ghetto Is Born: Contemporary Figures of Heterotopias	p. 293
Where Is the Chicago Ghetto?	p. 293
About the contributors	p. 327
Index	p. 331
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