“People of Color Are Not Props”: Black Branding and Community Resistance in Gentrifying Brooklyn

Maura McGee — 2018-02-06T13:00:00Z

When a new white-owned upscale bar-restaurant in the gentrifying Brooklyn neighborhood of Crown Heights advertised rosé wine served in 40-ounce bottles and a purported “bullet-hole-ridden” wall, the neighborhood erupted with protest. In her analysis of the “bullet-hole bar” controversy, Maura McGee probes the intersection of race, gentrification, and community in a changing commercial landscape.
Summerhill—a “boozy sandwich shop”—opened in the gentrifying historically low-income black

- From the Field / authenticity, gentrification, New York, race, community, Brooklyn, Black neighborhoods, marketing, branding

The Paradoxes of Urban Authenticity

Andrea Mubi Brighenti — 2010-11-25T11:43:04Z

Diversity is becoming a moot point as consumerism replaces authenticity.
In this well written, engaging and enlightening book, Sharon Zukin describes a series of profound ongoing urban transformations that are increasingly leading from a city of production to a city of consumption. Zukin illuminates a crucial tension between urban villages and the corporate city at the heart of many contemporary cities. Faithful to her analysis of the role of the symbolic economy and its interweaving with

- Reviews / authenticity, gentrification, consumption, United States

Metropolitics

“People of Color Are Not Props”: Black Branding and Community Resistance in Gentrifying Brooklyn

The Paradoxes of Urban Authenticity