Race and the politics of deception : the making of an American city / Christopher Mele.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Mele, Christopher, author.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

African Americans--Civil rights.

African Americans.

History.

Racism.

Urban policy.

Urbanization.

Chester (Penn.)--Race relations.

Chester (Penn.).

Chester (Pa.)--Politics and government.

Chester (Pa.).

Chester (Pa.)--Economic conditions.

Urbanization--Pennsylvania--Case studies.

Urban policy--Pennsylvania--Case studies.

Racism--Pennsylvania--Chester.

African Americans--Pennsylvania--Chester--History.

African Americans--Civil rights--Pennsylvania--Chester.

Pennsylvania--Chester.

Pennsylvania.

Genre:

Case studies.

Physical Description:

xiv, 181 pages ; 23 cm

Place of Publication:

New York : New York University Press, [2017]

Summary:

In Race and the Politics of Deception, Christopher Mele unpacks America's history of dealing with racial problems through the uneven development of spaces. Mele focuses on Chester, Pennsylvania-a small city with primarily low-income, Black residents. Chester is emblematic of many cities throughout the United States experiencing postindustrial decline, and, in particular, of the development plans often United as a way to "save" these cities by turning one section into a waterfront "destination" location. Splitting the city into spaces of tourism and consumption versus spaces of everyday struggle and hardship, Mele argues, serves to segregate and fracture the community through a racialized divide. While these development plans are conceived as socially inclusive and economically revitalizing, Mele points out that they are strategic choices by political leaders and real estate developers that intentionally seek to exclude certain types of people-most often, low-income people of color. Race has an enduring significance in city development-past, present, and future. This book carefully and compellingly considers the contemporary practices of racialized organization of space and the politics of urban development. Race and the Politics of Deception provides a comprehensive and accessible introduction to the rhetoric of race in relation to the development of space, and how our ever-changing landscape is being strategically divided along lines of class and race. Book jacket.

Contents:

Race strategies and the politics of urban development

The racial divide in the making of Chester

How to make a ghetto

The Birmingham of the north

Five square miles of hell

Welcome to the "post-racial" black city.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN:

9781479866090

1479866091

9781479880430

1479880434

OCLC:

946161354