essay
The southeast Dearborn Arab community struggles for survival against urban 'renewal'
Arabic speaking communities in American cities • Staten Island, N.y. • Published In 1974 • Pages: 53-83
By: Aswad, Barbara C..
AbstractBrief abstract written by HRAF anthropologists who have done the subject indexing for the document
In this essay, which deals with the Arab-American community of Southend in Dearborn, Michigan, we see an example of the abuses of 'urban renewal'. In this case it has attempted to destroy a primary community of low and middle income laborers. Aswad concludes that 'the community has been characterized by overlapping social, economic and psychological relations. The people identify strongly with the community and most do not want to leave it or see its destruction, they would like to see it renewed. The pressures of the city are forcing divisions as well as a new community reorganization. The groups that will benefit from the community's destruction are big business and the more affluent Dearborn residents' (pp. 78-79).The author believes that this is a clear case of class dominance and exploitation and seems to reflect strong overtones of ethnic discrimination. The political dialogue between the city and the community over this issue eventually resulted in a class action lawsuit filed against the city by the community.
- SubjectsDocument-level OCM identifiers given by the anthropology subject indexers at HRAF
- Interviewing in research
- External migration
- Environmental quality
- Settlement patterns
- Housing
- Community structure
- Cities
- Litigation
- Ethnosociology
- cultureCulture name from the Outline of World Cultures (OWC)
- Arab Americans
- HRAF PubDateThe date HRAF published the document
- 1999
- RegionThe area the document pertains to
- North America
- Sub RegionThe more specific area the document pertains to, which is located within the Region
- Regional, Ethnic and Diaspora Cultures
- Document TypeMay include journal articles, essays, collections of essays, monographs, or chapters/parts of monographs
- essay
- Evaluation
- Creator TypeThe type of person writing the document, e.g. Ethnographer, Missionary, Archaeologist, Folklorist, Linguist, Indigenous Person, and so on.
- Ethnologist
- Document Rating A ranking done by HRAF anthropologists based on the strength of the source material on a scale of 1 to 5, as follows: 1 - poor; 2 - fair; 3 - good, useful data, but not uniformly excellent; 4 - excellent secondary data; 5 - excellent primary data.
- 5: Excellent Primary Data
- AnalystThe HRAF anthropologist who subject indexed the document and prepared other materials for the eHRAF culture/tradition collection
- John Beierle ; 1998
- Field DateThe date the researcher conducted the fieldwork or archival research that produced the document
- 1970s
- Coverage DateThe date or dates that the information in the document pertains to
- ca. 1920s - 1970s
- Coverage PlaceLocation of the research culture or tradition (often a smaller unit such as a band, community, or archaeological site)
- Southend area, Dearborn, Michigan, United States
- NotesAdditional notes
- Barbara C. Aswad
- Includes bibliographical references (p. 80-83)
- LCCNLibrary of Congress Control Number
- 73088936
- LCSHLibrary of Congress Subject Headings
- Arab Americans