University of Pennsylvania ScholarlyCommons Publicly Accessible Penn Dissertations 2018 Durham’s Self-Help And The Financialization Of The Bull City: Development Without Displacement? Or Displacement Without Development? Emily Ladue University of Pennsylvania, [email protected] Follow this and additional works at: https://repository.upenn.edu/edissertations Part of the American Studies Commons, Communication Commons, and the Political Science Commons Recommended Citation Ladue, Emily, "Durham’s Self-Help And The Financialization Of The Bull City: Development Without Displacement? Or Displacement Without Development?" (2018). Publicly Accessible Penn Dissertations. 2905. https://repository.upenn.edu/edissertations/2905 This paper is posted at ScholarlyCommons. https://repository.upenn.edu/edissertations/2905 For more information, please contact [email protected]. Durham’s Self-Help And The Financialization Of The Bull City: Development Without Displacement? Or Displacement Without Development? Abstract This dissertation is an ethnography of the nonprofit institution, the Center for Community Self-Help, and the development media in Durham, North Carolina that together work to support rent-intensifying pro- growth development in the city. Self-Help discursively, financially, and geographically manages rent- intensifying development in Durham by partnering with the city and other institutions, principally Duke University, to manage community relations, shepherd state and federal tax credits and other public financing, and act as a symbol of progressive politics. Through innovative methods developed over a five- year media and institutional ethnography of Self-Help in Durham, this case study examines development media: the discourses, institutions, actors, and publications that work to support pro-growth development in the city by various means, including critiquing the very development that they support. This case study seeks to answer how it is that as critiques of gentrification propagate and the institution Self-Help grows – backed by progressives and other nonprofits in the city and identified as a vde eloper seeking to close the wealth gap – inequality in the city also continues to grow. The findings show that despite Self-Help’s claims to supporting community, promoting affordable housing, bringing in jobs, honoring a black working class history, supporting a better future for all, and cooperating and partnering with other institutions, their real estate development work leads to further inequality and dispossession of the poor, majority African-American and Latino populations in the city. Moreover, the discourses used to justify their developments actually act as a mechanism to allow this development to take place more efficiently by rationalizing the use of public funding for projects that support private wealth. This study concludes that urban development as we know it, even when taken on by institutions claiming to address inequality, rely on speculative development models that use our public resources to grow wealth for those who already have it. Degree Type Dissertation Degree Name Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) Graduate Group Communication First Advisor John L. Jackson, Jr. Keywords durham, nc, financialization, gentrification, non-profits, urban development, urban studies Subject Categories American Studies | Communication | Political Science This dissertation is available at ScholarlyCommons: https://repository.upenn.edu/edissertations/2905 DURHAM’S SELF-HELP AND THE FINANCIALIZATION OF THE BULL CITY: DEVELOPMENT WITHOUT DISPLACEMENT? OR DISPLACEMENT WITHOUT DEVELOPMENT? Emily LaDue A DISSERTATION in Communication Presented to the Faculties of the University of Pennsylvania in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy 2018 Supervisor of Dissertation: _____________________________ John L. Jackson, Jr., Ph.D. Dean, Social Policy and Practice Richard Perry University Professor Penn Integrates Knowledge Professor Graduate Group Chairperson: _____________________________ Michael X. Delli-Carpini, PhD Walter H. Annenberg Dean, Annenberg School for Communication Professor of Communication Dissertation Committee: Dr. Carolyn Marvin, Ph.D. Frances Yates Emeritus Professor of Communication Dr. Victor Pickard, Ph.D. Associate Professor of Communication DURHAM’S SELF-HELP AND THE FINANCIALIZATION OF THE BULL CITY: DEVELOPMENT WITHOUT DISPLACEMENT? OR DISPLACEMENT WITHOUT DEVELOPMENT? COPYRIGHT 2018 Emily LaDue This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution- NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 License To view a copy of this license, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0/us/ iii This dissertation is dedicated to my grandma, Ida Marie Corbett (1921-2017), to El Kilombo, to the EZLN, and to all who are struggling for dignity, justice, and freedom in our lives, in this world. iv ACKNOWLEDGMENTS As the EZLN says, Para todos todo, nada para nosostros. This dissertation would not have been possible without the brilliance, work, study, support, guidance, love, and struggle of El Kilombo in Durham, NC. From the early days of fighting against the war in Iraq, to reading groups, the community center, and the many projects today, my hope and persistence comes from the work we do in common. To all of us, to all we fight for, to many years of building a world where many worlds fit. Thank you to the greater EK community over the years, all authors of this work. To the EZLN, who continue to inspire the world in their construction of something other, something bigger, and something worth fighting for. Thank you for your coffee. To the CNI, thank you for cracking walls. To tearing down the walls. Viva! This dissertation also would not have been possible without the unwavering and unconditional support of my advisor, Dr. John L. Jackson Jr. Thank you, for sharing your mind with the world, and for sharing your brilliance and your time with me. Thank you, for always backing me and reminding me that I know what I am doing. Thank you, for reminding us all of the humanity in ourselves and our work, and the unceasing support of all of your students, and for teaching me how to think through moving images. While this project was ultimately not a film, when it becomes one, your fifteen years of support will be a part of its final cut. Thank you Dr. Carolyn Marvin for your tough love, of me and others. Thank you for teaching us, and taking the time to struggle with how to do that better, always. Thank you for pushing me to do better, to think harder, and for trusting my mind. The time we spent together working on the FDR and Hunting Park project is now is now part of the best of my memories at Annenberg. Thank you Dr. Victor Pickard, for backing me and my work and taking me on in this project. Thank you for fighting for justice and media that breaks the unthinking of disinformation. Thank you to Micah Kordsmeier, Dan Levine, Tucker Bartlett, Emma Haney and all of Self-Help for the time you spent answering my questions for this project. Thank you to all of the subjects of this dissertation for your honest interviews and trusting me with your words. v Thank you Dean Michael Delli-Carpini for supporting the work of our student body and being a role model of a scholar and leader. Thank you to my other advisors, teachers, and mentors during my graduate and undergraduate studies: Dr. Guobin Yang, Dr. Barbie Zelizer and the Scholars Program in Culture and Communication, Dr. Marwan Kraidy, Dr. Sharonna Pearl, Dr. Deborah Thomas, Dr. Tom Sugrue, Dr. Sandra González-Bailón, Dr. Lisa Mitchell, Dr. Ann Norton, Dr. Litty Paxton, Dr. Diana Mutz, Dr. Wahneema Lubiano, Dr. Ken Surin, and Dr. Victoria Lodewick. Thank you Dr. Adolph Reed for pushing me to study Self-Help, for your scholarship, your insight, and your mentorship. Thank you to Office 133. I would have never survived without Office 133! To Deb Lui, for always helping me organize a mess of disorganized thinking. To Omar Al-Ghazzi, for our daily lunches, for your love, and for your clear thinking. To Sandra Ristovska, for your love, your incredible scholarship, and for fighting. To Natacha Yazbeck for your solidarity and fight to do what you know needs to be done. To Doron Tassig, for your humor, kindness, your example of how to live a fulfilling life and be a scholar, and for putting up with my boxes in the office. To Alex Williams, for advancing the study of inequality in the media and being lovely. Thank you to my cohort and adopted cohort at Penn: Aaron Shapiro, for your brotherhood and sharing your home with me; Corrina Laughlin, for your sisterhood; Sara Mourad, for your love, brilliance, and letting me teach you yoga; Lyndsey Beutin, for your insight and that night we watched Duke win the championship; Kevin Gotkin, for your mind; Alex Sastre, for being a shining star and exemplar Virgo; and Kate Zambon, for your friendship, support, and hard work. Thank you Rowan Howard-Williams, Dror Walter, Stella Lee, Lori Young, Chris Cimaglio, Sun-ha Hong, Nick Gilewicz, Rosemary Clark-Parsons, John Vilanova, David Conrad, Elena Maris, Tim Libert, Joanna Siegel, Carly Regina, Joseph Wuest, and Matt Berkman, especially for the comps love. Thank you to the whole Gregory GA and RA crew. Thank you to the staff at The Annenberg School for Communication at the University of Pennsylvania in room 200, and to the housekeepers and security guards for your work, your dignity, your warmth, and your support. Thank you Emily Plowman and Kelly Fernandez, and librarians Sharon Black and Min Zhong. vi Thank you to my family. I hope you all think it’s cool that we have a Dr. LaDue. Holly, for everything. Hope, for always believing in me. Tim, for being there when I need you. Joe, for your unconditional love. Mom, for raising me to see the oppression and bullshit of the world, and for thinking I am so smart. Dad, for always being proud of me no matter what and for taking me in. Bonnie and Frank, for choosing to be my parents, caring for me, and caring for Julius.