Journal article
Allston Christmas: How Local Rituals Reproduce Neighbourhood Temporality and Deter Gentrification
Urbanities, Vol.8(2), pp.69-78
01 Nov 2018
Featured in Collection : UN Sustainable Development Goals @ Drexel
Abstract
Allston, Boston's student neighbourhood, has experienced durable trends of both economic upscaling and decline, existing as a 'hybrid neighbourhood'. As a hybrid neighbourhood, Allston has experienced trends such as a dramatic increase in condominiums as well as decreases in median household incomes, alongside the exodus of an industrial economic base and growth of local universities in the neighbourhood. Therefore, Allston has not experienced traditional gentrification at the pace or to the extent as would be suggested by urban literature, but rather has experienced moments of upscaling and moments of decline, marked by distinct cohorts of residents, 30 years apart, who understand themselves to be 'pioneer' gentrifiers. Allston's student presence, especially the annual ritual of 'Allston Christmas' and turnover of rental leases, perpetuates the cultural narrative that Allston is `young', specifically to mean student-oriented, and, therefore, not amenable to middle-class tastes and upscaling. Allston Christmas is marked by a visual and physical disturbance of sidewalks as renters discard mattresses, furniture, home goods, and other items. Coupled with precarious housing conditions, such as house fires, rat infestations, and building code violations, Allston Christmas, as a ritual and rite of passage, has deterred additional upscaling in the neighbourhood and perpetuated its cultural narrative of youngness. The continued narrative of youngness and limited upscaling have perpetuated Allston's hybrid status, by emphasizing its instability, transience, and precarious housing. Finally, Allston's hybridity and Allston Christmas contribute, with other factors, to a local experience of temporal sameness-or the feeling that the neighbourhood has not changed significantly.
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Details
- Title
- Allston Christmas: How Local Rituals Reproduce Neighbourhood Temporality and Deter Gentrification
- Creators
- Sarah Siltanen Hosman - Boston University
- Publication Details
- Urbanities, Vol.8(2), pp.69-78
- Publisher
- Iuaes, Commission Urban Anthropology
- Number of pages
- 10
- Resource Type
- Journal article
- Language
- English
- Academic Unit
- Sociology
- Identifiers
- 991021868004104721
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- Anthropology