Upscaling Downtown

by Brett Williams

In Upscaling Downtown, anthropologist Brett Williams provides an ethnography of a changing urban neighborhood that she calls "Elm Valley." Located in Washington, D.C., Elm Valley was one of the first neighborhoods to draw middle-class property owners back to the inner city, but a faltering housing industry halted what might have been the rapid displacement of the poor. As a result, Elm Valley experienced several years of stalled gentrification...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0801494192
• ISBN13: 9780801494192
• Release Date: February 1988
• Publisher: Cornell University Press
• Length: 176 Pages
• Weight: 0.60 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.6" x 5.9" x 8.8"
• Age Range: 18 years and up
• Grade Range: Postsecondary and higher

Customer Reviews

Good Ethnography of a Washington, D.C. Neighborhood

Not being an ethnographer, urbanist, or sociologist, I almost hesitate to comment on this book, since it is rooted in those fields. However, since it is written at a level appropriate to a general audience, and concerns my home town, it seems reasonable to do so. The brief book's six chapters seek to explore the ethnography of Washington, D.C.'s Mt. Pleasant neighborhood during a time of transition in the mid-1980s. Williams attempts to disguise her study's location (which was also her home) by calling it "Elm Valley" and using fake street names, but people from D.C. will recognize Mt. P pretty quickly. Williams is a good writer and each individual section reads well, however, the chapters feel quite separate and it is sometimes a bit of a struggle to connect them to any larger thesis. Chapter 1 briefly discusses the common "myths" of Washington as a city and traces the migration of one extended family from the Carolinas to D.C. Chapter 2 focuses on a particular block and its inhabitants, in an attempt to demonstrate how the prevalence of migrants from the south (such as the family from Chapter 1) has led to a local microculture which mimics those origins, especially in relation to food and gardening, which are treated in some detail. Chapter 3 shifts to another block, where an old apartment building faces a series of row houses. Williams spent a great deal of time talking to inhabitants of both, and is able to paint a fine picture of the dichotomy between them. Renters vs. home-owners, gentrifiers, asians, etc. However this gets a little bogged down in the finer semantic distinctions between "home" and "house", and veers off-course a little into a critique of how the idea of "home" has been culturally sold in post-war America. Chapter 4 discusses the ethnography of "Main Street" (ie. Mt. Pleasant Street), and is striking in that the issues of twenty years ago remain largely unresolved, and if anything, are only heightened. For example, There are still economic tensions between shopping at local markets and an excursion to suburban supermarkets (although this is changing rapidly as chain stores take root several blocks away) and the issue if people hanging out on the street at all hours remains. However, the "stalled" gentrification has clearly been "unstalled" as every year sees more upscale-oriented businesses dotting the streetscape (such as a coffeehouse called "Dos Gringos", a bar called "Marx Cafe", and a boutique pizzeria). Chapter 5 focuses on television viewing habits, contrasting the aspirational viewing habits of the poorer renters (who favor "Dallas", "Dynasty" and other such "Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous" viewing) with that of the more affluent homeowners (who favor "Hill Street Blues", "St. Elsewhere", and other such "gritty" representations of big city life). Williams has some nice analysis here, pointing out the obvious problems of the wealthy watching shows which more or less reinforce stereotypes of "city life", and h

Good Ethnography of a Washington, D.C. Neighborhood

Not being an ethnographer, urbanist, or sociologist, I almost hesitate to comment on this book, since it is rooted in those fields. However, since it is written at a level appropriate to a general audience, and concerns my home town, it seems reasonable to do so. The brief book's six chapters seek to explore the ethnography of Washington, D.C.'s Mt. Pleasant neighborhood during a time of transition in the mid-1980s. Williams attempts to disguise her study's location (which was also her home) by calling it "Elm Valley" and using fake street names, but people from D.C. will recognize Mt. P pretty quickly. Williams is a good writer and each individual section reads well, however, the chapters feel quite separate and it is sometimes a bit of a struggle to connect them to any larger thesis. Chapter 1 briefly discusses the common "myths" of Washington as a city and traces the migration of one extended family from the Carolinas to D.C. Chapter 2 focuses on a particular block and its inhabitants, in an attempt to demonstrate how the prevalence of migrants from the south (such as the family from Chapter 1) has led to a local microculture which mimics those origins, especially in relation to food and gardening, which are treated in some detail. Chapter 3 shifts to another block, where an old apartment building faces a series of row houses. Williams spent a great deal of time talking to inhabitants of both, and is able to paint a fine picture of the dichotomy between them. Renters vs. home-owners, gentrifiers, asians, etc. However this gets a little bogged down in the finer semantic distinctions between "home" and "house", and veers off-course a little into a critique of how the idea of "home" has been culturally sold in post-war America. Chapter 4 discusses the ethnography of "Main Street" (ie. Mt. Pleasant Street), and is striking in that the issues of twenty years ago remain largely unresolved, and if anything, are only heightened. For example, There are still economic tensions between shopping at local markets and an excursion to suburban supermarkets (although this is changing rapidly as chain stores take root several blocks away) and the issue if people hanging out on the street at all hours remains. However, the "stalled" gentrification has clearly been "unstalled" as every year sees more upscale-oriented businesses dotting the streetscape (such as a coffeehouse called "Dos Gringos", a bar called "Marx Cafe", and a boutique pizzeria). Chapter 5 focuses on television viewing habits, contrasting the aspirational viewing habits of the poorer renters (who favor "Dallas", "Dynasty" and other such "Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous" viewing) with that of the more affluent homeowners (who favor "Hill Street Blues", "St. Elsewhere", and other such "gritty" representations of big city life). Williams has some nice analysis here, pointing out the obvious problems of the wealthy watching shows which more or less reinforce stereotypes of "city life", and ho