Editorial: Culture matters |
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Authors: | Kathleen Mee Gordon Waitt |
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Institution: | 1. Centre for Urban and Regional Studies, Discipline of Geography, School of Environmental and Life Sciences , University of Newcastle , Callaghan, NSW, 2308, Australia;2. School of Geosciences , University of Wollongong , NSW, 2522, Australia |
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Abstract: | In this paper, I examine the notion of privilege as it relates to whiteness. The argument that racial privilege is actively constructed in the micro-geographies of everyday life is based on a case study conducted in Buffalo, New York. In this study, I analyze the narrated experiences of white elderly, primarily female, residents of a changing urban neighborhood. To capture the interrelationships between racial privilege and place, I used multi-methods research which included surveys, mental maps, travel diaries, interviews, and participation observation. The stories told are detailed accounts of the ways in which these white elderly residents cope with a slipping away of their white privilege through learning new boundaries of privilege, devising strategies for coping with their changed neighborhood, and reclaiming, in part, their previously held privileges. I propose that whiteness and its attendant privilege is not just about who you are, but where you are. |
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Keywords: | whiteness race privilege older people policing urban neighborhood |
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