Here are the questions for Streetwise -- they are also on the wiki. You can respond to them either place (0r both). And then we can meet for coffee to discuss your views.
I think this will be fun!
Questions about Streetwise
1.Does Anderson convince you that he has spent sufficient time with his research subjects?
a.How or why?
2.Does Anderson take a naturalistic, positivistic, or constructionist pov in his research?
3.What are his observations
a.About the Village
b.About Northton
c.About the relationship between the 2
4.What does it mean to be “streetwise”?
a.Is there more than one way to be streetwise?
b.What is his evidence?
5.What are some assumptions he makes?
a.About class
b.About race
c.About gender
d.About sexuality
e.About culture
f.About values
g.About tradition
Am responding as am thinking through this, so I this is is the response to the first half of the questions:
ReplyDelete1.Does Anderson convince you that he has spent sufficient time with his research subjects?
a.How or why?
For most part Anderson does convince me that he has spent a great amount of time in the area that he is conducting his research. I do feel like he has spent sufficient time in the area, doing a lot of his own observation and a lot of conversations with the local people and incorporating excerpts from his time there. Some of the excerpts the people he interviewed shared were very person, and I could not believe would have been possible without his well acknowledged presence in the area.
2.Does Anderson take a naturalistic, positivistic, or constructionist pov in his research?
3.What are his observations
a.About the Village
Anderson has an extensive amount of observation about the village, at the beginning of the book he talks about the village being a racially mixed area but was becoming increasingly white and upper to middle income. He also gives a good background of the different phases that the village goes through, from different groups of people migrating in and other leaving. Also, the different areas within the village, he specifies the different groups of people that reside and so forth. The author discusses in detail about gentrification within this area, the effect it has had on all residents as well as the value of the area. As upper class whites move into the area, they refurbish the homes and add value, and as more white residents move into the area the more the home values in the area increase. Anderson also discusses present day village as inhibited by old time villagers, the former counterculture group, the “yuppies,” Eastern tech students and blacks. He goes in detail about each category, like the counterculture group, they were the ones that were openly against the Vietnam war, many of them demonstrated and marched, often their views were much more radical then the old timers. The author calls the young professionals the “yuppies” in the book. He says if “yuppies” are married they often don’t have kids, but if they do, they send their kids to private schools. They are also often to spot because they are young and mostly white.
b.About Northton
He observed that it was defined as low-income, high-crime, ghetto, most of its mansions were often left to rot. He also noticed that as members of this community move socially and economically up the ladder, they tend to also move geographically. If, those that are doing better do not move away and stay in the area, they tend to socially be disengaged as they think their “efforts as instructive agents of social control are futile and may in fact bring trouble.” The author alludes their action as having some possible repercussions to the rest of the community, in terms of high teen pregnancy, drug use etc as a lack of the stabilizing black middle class force. At the same time, successful Northton residence are perceived as big shots and looked up to by the entire community.
The author talks in details about the different types of people in this community, “old-heads,” young boys, and the female old heads.
c.About the relationship between the 2
Both these communities make their boundaries very defined, Bellwether street is the primary border-street. The Northton borderline is protected by a group of black youths from unknown blacks and whites who may venture in the area. Even though, the Village does not have defined “protectors” the white fraternities from Eastern Tech play the same role for the community.