Updates
As a team we’ve made progress towards the goals we outlined in our project scope of work. The following is an update of our project activities thus far: Interview Team
A few things we’ve learned since starting this project is to be very direct with our questions, and with our communication overall. At first, many of us were confused by some of the expectations and demands from our partners. This required us to be direct in asking questions to our AEMP contacts and with how we noted things in our notes. For example, we were a bit confused by the introduction of a new project (the project due on 11/1) and how it related to our overall deliverables. Once we discussed our concerns in our general group chat, it made it easier to know what needed to be asked so we were all on the same page. This has become a common theme for us as we will often ask each other things before asking the AEMP group, just in case we missed something that was already discussed. As for communication within the group, we have mostly relied on our group chat to keep up to date with things. We naturally try to update each other since some of us aren’t able to make every meeting, and then fill in missing gaps that are needed from person to person. This often requires us to know who has been able to attend certain meetings and who has taken somewhat of a lead on relaying information. Another thing we’ve learned is how personal and deep these conversations can get. We listened to multiple interviews and while it may seem like class work, these are actual experiences and actual lives being described. It’s very emotional, but it also makes our work that much more important. I think we’re all interested to see how our individual interviews will go and I think we’re all prepared to support each other throughout the process. Critical analysis The Plan Bay Area 2040 document highlighted the continued lack of affordable housing in the Bay Area, underscoring the importance of AEMP’s work against evictions and displacement. While AEMP’s current work has made clear that housing has been precarious for many folks due to the COVID-19 pandemic, it was alarming to see the lack of low and middle income housing being built, especially compared to higher-income, market-rate housing. The lack of repercussions that Bay Area cities face in not building sufficient housing contextualizes the continued importance of AEMP’s work in creating tools for impacted tenants to organize against eviction. In addition to Plan Bay Area 2040, we observed many parallels between AEMP’s work and the interview experiences highlighted in “Urban Omnibus: Chinatown Shop Talk.” In both scenarios, we notice how gentrification takes hold in cultural hubs of major cities. In the case of Mei and Diane, their efforts combatted the gentrifying forces that took place within New York’s Chinatown. For an interview that Shania and Sarah edited, the interviewee spoke of his experiences in combating housing injustice in Los Angeles’ Koreatown. It is interesting to identify the coast-to-coast parallels of injustice in urban areas. Another connection that we observed was in the methods that both teams used to support those struggling with inequitable city development. Both Diane and AEMP utilize oral histories to understand individual stories of struggle. Their collection approaches both value the power of counternarratives. For example, Diane highlights a property owner (Mei), although the title property owner typically holds negative connotations, especially in the housing justice realm. AEMP has also made it very clear that they want to highlight the nuances of people’s struggles in order to challenge stereotypes that people have about those facing housing instability. Through the work of AEMP and Diane, we see how oral histories can challenge the notion that people struggling with gentrification have no power. By listening to AEMP’s interviews, we hear various stories of people organizing for housing justice through local organizations, similar to how Mei reclaimed agency over the shop by founding the W.O.W. Project. Through this case study, we were able to connect our project’s work with the course content. Comments are closed.
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