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Fike KJ, Mattis JS. Gender, race, and space: A qualitative exploration of young Black women's perceptions of urban neighborhoods. AMERICAN JOURNAL OF COMMUNITY PSYCHOLOGY 2024; 74:152-168. [PMID: 38643389 DOI: 10.1002/ajcp.12752] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/07/2023] [Revised: 12/11/2023] [Accepted: 04/09/2024] [Indexed: 04/22/2024]
Abstract
How people think and feel about their neighborhood impacts the way they think of themselves and their futures. These linkages are especially important to understand in the case of urban-residing young Black women. Researchers know very little about what contributes to young Black adults' urban neighborhood perceptions and often rely on "expert" definitions of markers of neighborhood quality. These definitions and subsequent explorations of residents' neighborhood assessment have not adequately considered intersecting oppressive systems that structure urban spaces both physically and socially. Further, within-group diversity of young Black adults based on other social identities, such as gender and class, has gone underexplored in research on residents' neighborhood assessment. We used theory from Black feminist geography and sociology to guide our thematic analysis of interviews with young Black women (N = 9) regarding their urban neighborhood quality. We sought to explore the aspects or features of the neighborhood that young Black women discussed and how social identities may play a role in young Black women's descriptions of their urban neighborhoods. We argue three themes tell an overarching story of young Black women's urban spatial critical analysis: (1) outsiders' perceptions versus our realities, (2) gendered safety, and (3) visibility of young Black women. Young Black women's narratives highlighted communal aspects of neighborhood evaluation and attention to dominant narratives regarding marginalized groups and urban spaces.
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Affiliation(s)
- Kayla J Fike
- Department of Human and Organizational Development, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, Tennessee, USA
| | - Jacqueline S Mattis
- Department of Psychology, Rutgers University, New Brunswick, New Jersey, USA
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2
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Bunn M, Samuels G, Higson-Smith C. Ambiguous loss of home: Syrian refugees and the process of losing and remaking home. WELLBEING, SPACE AND SOCIETY 2023; 4:100136. [PMID: 37476200 PMCID: PMC10358717 DOI: 10.1016/j.wss.2023.100136] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 07/22/2023]
Abstract
This constructivist-interpretive study examines social-relational dimensions of change and loss following experiences of political terror, war and forced migration from the perspective of Syrian refugee men and women who were presently living in Jordan (n=31). A process model derived from the analysis theorizes four dimensions of ambiguous loss (safety and security, social connections and identities, connection to place, and dreams and imagined future) and to capture the cyclical process of losing and remaking a sense of home in displacement. Our findings underscore a more complex set of processes that remain outside the array of supports and services provided by many current practices and policies with displaced populations generally, and Syrian refugees specifically. Thus, the findings highlight the need for ecological, integrative policies, interventions and services that support refugees' attempts to remake the multifaceted and stable phenomenon that is home as they transition into new communities.
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Affiliation(s)
- Mary Bunn
- Department of Psychiatry, University of Illinois Chicago, 1601W. Taylor Street, Chicago, IL 60637, USA
| | - Gina Samuels
- Crown Family School of Social Work, Policy and Practice, University of Chicago, 969 E. 60th Street, Chicago, IL 60637, USA
| | - Craig Higson-Smith
- Center for Victims of Torture, 2356 University Avenue West, St. Paul, MN 55114, USA
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Napper LE, Stone MM, Neely PO. Capturing connections during COVID-19: Using photography to assess US college students' sense of belonging. HIGHER EDUCATION RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT 2022; 42:920-936. [PMID: 37377602 PMCID: PMC10292764 DOI: 10.1080/07294360.2022.2128074] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/09/2021] [Accepted: 08/29/2022] [Indexed: 06/29/2023]
Abstract
Past research has highlighted a range of factors that impact college students' sense of belonging. It is less clear how the COVID-19 pandemic has shaped college students' experience of belonging. The current study used a reflective photography approach to examine US college students' experience of belonging to their institution during the COVID-19 pandemic. Student responses included themes of: Physical Space, Community, Adaptation/Continuity, Identity, and Negative Affect. Physical space emerged as the most common theme. Regardless of whether students were studying on campus or remotely, students described the role of the natural and built environment in finding a sense of connection and belonging. In comparisons based on students' class year, first-year students talked more about the role of structured groups and other cohorts highlighted the role of past shared experiences. The findings have implications for interventions aimed at promoting student belonging.
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Affiliation(s)
- Lucy E Napper
- Department of Psychology, Lehigh University, 17 Memorial Drive-East, Bethlehem, PA18015
| | - Meg Munley Stone
- Student Affairs, Lehigh University, 17 Memorial Drive-East, Bethlehem, PA18015
| | - Princess O Neely
- Department of Psychology, Lehigh University, 17 Memorial Drive-East, Bethlehem, PA18015
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Toolis E, Dutt A, Wren A, Jackson-Gordon R. "It's a place to feel like part of the community": Counterspace, inclusion, and empowerment in a drop-in center for homeless and marginalized women. AMERICAN JOURNAL OF COMMUNITY PSYCHOLOGY 2022; 70:102-116. [PMID: 35129847 DOI: 10.1002/ajcp.12580] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/27/2021] [Revised: 12/13/2021] [Accepted: 12/21/2021] [Indexed: 06/14/2023]
Abstract
In the context of rising inequality and eroding safety nets for marginalized communities, research is needed to demonstrate the ways in which settings can facilitate community, agency, and capabilities for low-income women. The purpose of this study is to examine if and how an organizational setting designed to support homeless, low-income, and other marginalized women can facilitate empowering changes and increased wellbeing among the women who participate. A thematic analysis of interviews conducted with 22 participants who attend a women's day center identified three ways in which the organizational setting impacted women's lived experiences: (a) increasing a sense of agency through acceptance, active and participatory roles, and ownership over the physical environment, (b) promoting a sense of community through rituals of care and attentiveness, alleviated social isolation, and mutual relationships, and (c) improving life circumstances by offering a safe environment, access to basic resources such as housing, and support for health and wellbeing. Findings highlight the setting features and psychosocial processes that foster flourishing and resist patterns of exclusion and devaluation imposed on marginalized women by dominant neoliberal values, institutions, and policies.
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Affiliation(s)
- Erin Toolis
- Department of Psychology, State University of New York College at Old Westbury, Old Westbury, New York, USA
| | - Anjali Dutt
- Department of Psychology, University of Cincinnati, Cincinnati, Ohio, USA
| | - Alexander Wren
- Department of Psychology, University of Cincinnati, Cincinnati, Ohio, USA
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Douglas GCC. Reclaiming Placemaking for an Alternative Politics of Legitimacy and Community in Homelessness. INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF POLITICS, CULTURE, AND SOCIETY 2022; 36:35-56. [PMID: 35645459 PMCID: PMC9126631 DOI: 10.1007/s10767-022-09426-x] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Accepted: 04/28/2022] [Indexed: 06/15/2023]
Abstract
This study is about the struggle for legitimacy in place among a group of people often assumed to have neither. It examines the roll of informal placemaking and community building in struggles for settlement among people experiencing homelessness. It does so through ethnographic observation, photo-documentation, and participatory action research at three sites in Oakland, California, on which unhoused people (and some housed members of the surrounding community) have demonstrated bold forms of grassroots placemaking on public land. The first site, which came to be known as Housing and Dignity Village, was a small intentionally organized community of unhoused women and families that existed for 41 politically charged days in a low-income residential neighborhood before being cleared by authorities in 2018. The second, a highly visible piece of desirable city-owned land, has been occupied by unhoused people to varying degrees since 2016 while being considered for various housing development proposals. The third is the Wood Street Encampment, Oakland's largest encampment and one of its longest standing, which has survived numerous partial evictions and a web of jurisdictional authority to become home to an extensive and innovative informal community-building effort. Despite their differences, each offers a powerful case of place-based bottom-up community organizing among unhoused people, in which placemaking becomes part of a subtle politics of visibility, being, and legitimacy. The study argues that these instances and others not only demonstrate a different sort of placemaking, but demand that we reconsider and reclaim the concept itself.
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Affiliation(s)
- Gordon C. C. Douglas
- Department of Urban and Regional Planning, San José State University, San José, California USA
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Johnson IM. Aging in the downtown corridor: Mapping the neighborhood experiences of Seattle's unhoused adults over age 50. J Aging Stud 2022; 60:100997. [PMID: 35248316 PMCID: PMC8902247 DOI: 10.1016/j.jaging.2021.100997] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/12/2021] [Revised: 12/02/2021] [Accepted: 12/13/2021] [Indexed: 10/19/2022]
Abstract
Research has established the importance of understanding the dynamic relationship between older adults and the environments in which they are embedded. However, the meaning of place for unhoused older adults amidst an increasingly contested urban landscape is largely unknown. This exploratory study aims to further include unhoused older adults' experiences in the scholarship on aging and place by asking how unhoused adults over age 50 (1) describe their spatial patterns and experiences and (2) negotiate their relationship with common urban places. Through iterative mapping conducted in focus groups and interviews at Seattle senior centers, respondents identified how they interacted with their communities and environment. Using inductive and deductive coding of both textual and geospatial data, thematic analysis indicated that respondents: (1) experienced confinement to the downtown corridor and expulsion from surrounding areas- a phenomenon compounded by physical and subjective aging; (2) created routines amidst geographic and temporal restrictions to maximize comfort and security; (3) attempted to create residential normalcy in public places through adaptive and accommodative practices; and (4) experienced identities shaped by movement through and access to place. Current social, spatial, and political contexts of city living present many challenges for older unhoused adults. Supports that ignore people's identification with the places that are important to them are unlikely to be successful. Findings from this paper call for service, policy, and design strategies that facilitate personal agency and connection to place among unhoused people midlife and beyond.
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Restoring the Balance between People, Places, and Profits: A Psychosocial Analysis of Uneven Community Development and the Case for Placemaking Processes. SUSTAINABILITY 2021. [DOI: 10.3390/su13137256] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/16/2022]
Abstract
Recent years have seen a paradigm shift from individualistic, market-based models of community development to more sustainable and human-centered approaches that emphasize inclusion and participation. Yet processes of privatization in the era of neoliberalism threaten these efforts by concentrating profits for elites while impoverishing everyday people and the environments they inhabit, resulting in profoundly uneven access to resources, inclusion, and participation. This analysis examines the psychosocial processes that produce and are produced by these unequal and segregated settings, as well as the causes and correlates of this imbalance in the context of the United States. Then, empirical literature is reviewed exploring the harmful consequences that inequality entails for individual and societal wellbeing, arguing that inequality (a) undermines opportunity by limiting access to resources and constraining upward mobility, (b) undermines community by dissolving trust and cohesion, (c) undermines ecosystems health by accelerating environmental degradation, and (d) undermines democracy by reducing the political power of the non-wealthy relative to the wealthy. Finally, four placemaking principles are proposed as a way to promote more sustainable, equitable, and inclusive community development.
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Placemaking in Action: Factors That Support or Obstruct the Development of Urban Community Gardens. SUSTAINABILITY 2020. [DOI: 10.3390/su12020657] [Citation(s) in RCA: 19] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/16/2022]
Abstract
The paper examines factors that support or obstruct the development of urban community garden projects. It combines a systematic scholarly literature review with empirical research from case studies located in New Zealand and Germany. The findings are discussed against the backdrop of placemaking processes: urban community gardens are valuable platforms to observe space-to-place transformations. Following a social-constructionist approach, literature-informed enablers and barriers for the development of urban community gardens are analysed against perceived notions informed by local interviewees with regard to their biophysical and technical, socio-cultural and economic, and political and administrative dimensions. These dimensions are incorporated into a systematic and comprehensive category system. This approach helps observe how the essential biophysical-material base of the projects is overlaid with socio-cultural factors and shaped by governmental or administrative regulations. Perceptual differences become evident and are discussed through the lens of different actors.
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Understanding Processes of Transformative Change: A Qualitative Inquiry into Empowering Sources and Outcomes Identified by Women in Rural Nicaragua. SEX ROLES 2019. [DOI: 10.1007/s11199-019-1005-1] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/26/2022]
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Tsai J, Lee CYS, Byrne T, Pietrzak RH, Southwick SM. Changes in Public Attitudes and Perceptions about Homelessness Between 1990 and 2016. AMERICAN JOURNAL OF COMMUNITY PSYCHOLOGY 2017; 60:599-606. [PMID: 29027669 DOI: 10.1002/ajcp.12198] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 06/07/2023]
Abstract
Public attitudes on homelessness can and has influenced policies and services for homeless populations. This study surveyed national public attitudes about homelessness in the 21st century and examined changes in attitudes in the past two decades. An online survey of public attitudes about homelessness was conducted with 541 U.S. adults across 47 states in November 2016 using Amazon Mechanical Turk. Survey results were compared to two public surveys conducted in 1990. Compared to previous surveys, the current sample endorsed more compassion, government support, and liberal attitudes about homelessness. The largest changes were related to increased support for homeless individuals to use public spaces for sleeping and panhandling. When asked about the demographic composition of the homeless population, the contemporary sample tended to overestimate the proportions who were young and racial/ethnic minorities, while underestimating the proportions who were married, or had mental health or substance abuse problems. Together, the findings suggest there has been an increase in compassion and liberal attitudes toward homelessness in the past two decades. Greater support for homeless individuals during an era of economic recessions and governmental homeless initiatives presents opportunities for new public health approaches to address homelessness.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jack Tsai
- United States Department of Veterans Affairs, New England Mental Illness Research, Education, and Clinical Center, West Haven, CT, USA
- Department of Psychiatry, Yale University School of Medicine, New Haven, CT, USA
| | | | - Thomas Byrne
- United States Department of Veterans Affairs, National Center on Homelessness Among Veterans, Philadelphia, PA, USA
- School of Social Work, Boston University, Boston, MA, USA
| | - Robert H Pietrzak
- Department of Psychiatry, Yale University School of Medicine, New Haven, CT, USA
- United States Department of Veterans Affairs National Center for Posttraumatic Stress Disorder, Clinical Neurosciences Division, VA Connecticut Healthcare System, West Haven, CT, USA
| | - Steven M Southwick
- Department of Psychiatry, Yale University School of Medicine, New Haven, CT, USA
- United States Department of Veterans Affairs National Center for Posttraumatic Stress Disorder, Clinical Neurosciences Division, VA Connecticut Healthcare System, West Haven, CT, USA
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