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A review by emloueez
The Gentrification of the Mind: Witness to a Lost Imagination by Sarah Schulman
3.0
Oh, man. This was a frustrating read, for a lot of reasons.
First, I agree with Schulman’s thesis about using gentrification language to explain the phenomenon of white-washing semi-recent queer history. But Schulman chooses to identify gentrification as mostly a phenomenon of individual behavior rather than comprehensively understanding gentrification as the effect of multiple stakeholders, including politicians and real estate developers. In short, it seems like she views gentrification as just whoever moved into the East Village after she and her cool artist friends.
This is just not an academically rigorous text. And, look, Schulman says at the start that she views this as more of a memoir. And that’s all fine and good except she’s a college professor. She has a duty to back up her claims. Most of what evidence she offers is anecdotal. Again, fine for a just memoir, but not fine for someone claiming to identify larger sociopolitical patterns.
Yet when she writes that “9/11 is the gentrification of AIDS” I stopped dead in my tracks. Because, damn, she’s right on the money. I still think this is a worthy read for anyone interested in better understanding the AIDS crisis, but I think it comes up short of being a great read.
First, I agree with Schulman’s thesis about using gentrification language to explain the phenomenon of white-washing semi-recent queer history. But Schulman chooses to identify gentrification as mostly a phenomenon of individual behavior rather than comprehensively understanding gentrification as the effect of multiple stakeholders, including politicians and real estate developers. In short, it seems like she views gentrification as just whoever moved into the East Village after she and her cool artist friends.
This is just not an academically rigorous text. And, look, Schulman says at the start that she views this as more of a memoir. And that’s all fine and good except she’s a college professor. She has a duty to back up her claims. Most of what evidence she offers is anecdotal. Again, fine for a just memoir, but not fine for someone claiming to identify larger sociopolitical patterns.
Yet when she writes that “9/11 is the gentrification of AIDS” I stopped dead in my tracks. Because, damn, she’s right on the money. I still think this is a worthy read for anyone interested in better understanding the AIDS crisis, but I think it comes up short of being a great read.