Vassar College Digital Window @ Vassar Senior Capstone Projects 2018 Not all trees are timber: looking past the ontology of American homeownership through the lens of Detroit Conor Mckay Allerton Vassar College Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalwindow.vassar.edu/senior_capstone Recommended Citation Allerton, Conor Mckay, "Not all trees are timber: looking past the ontology of American homeownership through the lens of Detroit" (2018). Senior Capstone Projects. 771. https://digitalwindow.vassar.edu/senior_capstone/771 This Open Access is brought to you for free and open access by Digital Window @ Vassar. It has been accepted for inclusion in Senior Capstone Projects by an authorized administrator of Digital Window @ Vassar. For more information, please contact
[email protected]. NOT ALL TREES ARE TIMBER LOOKING PAST THE ONTOLOGY OF AMERICAN HOMEOWNERSHIP THROUGH THE LENS OF DETROIT Conor McKay Allerton April 27, 2018 Senior Thesis Submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the Bachelor of Arts in Urban Studies Vassar College Lisa Brawley, Advisor Leonard Nevarez, Advisor TABLE OF CONTENTS ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS 2 INTRODUCTION 3 CONTEXT 7 Homebuilding and Foundations of Nationalism 7 Homeownership as American Capitalism 9 Modern American Housing Ideology Introduced 13 Homeownership Propaganda Solidified 16 Black Homeownership 19 DETROIT pt 1 23 How Did We Get Here? 24 The Crash 30 A Modern Terra Nova 32 What Gentrification Looks Like 35 The Farm 36 The Brand 39 Speculative Detroit 44 I Found My Old House in Detroit Today 49 CRITIQUE 54 Creating a Citizenry 54 Homeownership and the National Agenda 58 The Homeownership Model 61 Homogenization of Thought 63 Private Property, Critically 66 Racializing Land 68 Ontological Practice 71 DETROIT pt 2 74 Central Detroit Christian 75 Cass Community Social Services 79 Jefferson East Inc.