Both the following cases describe mature, militant community action and technical assistance orga... more Both the following cases describe mature, militant community action and technical assistance organizations utilizing research as a principal instrument of social action. The emphasis on in-house research (and its corrolary of long-range planning) seemed highly suggestive for American community-based groups. This method of fostering social action was reason enough to engage in a study of the British groups. In addition, we chose to look into these groups because they dealt with similar issues as those faced by many American community organizations, especially those that combat gentrification and try to protect the interests of working-class and poor constituencies in a threatening economic climate. And as in our country, both the British groups were finding it difficult to fight basic structural and technological issues with limited weapons that can win some battles but are not powerful enough to win the war. There is a bittersweet quality to both of these British cases, as the successes—but also the limitations—of this sophisticated and depth-probing style of citizen action are detailed; it is a story of struggles with mixed results that also emerges, we might quickly add, when analyzing various U.S. grass-roots groups, as we have done in previous papers.1
Copenhagen is what it seems to be—a vibrant, livable “city that works”—unless you are a citizen t... more Copenhagen is what it seems to be—a vibrant, livable “city that works”—unless you are a citizen trying to make your voice heard in city planning. Despite the elaborate mechanisms for citizen participation in the planning process, the impact of such involvement is minimal. In fact, according to Vilo Sigurdsen, Deputy Mayor in charge of planning, the elaborate mechanisms for participation have produced not one single instance in recent years when a plan has been substantially modified by citizen input.
Nutritional and foraging ecology of sheep and goats (Options méditerranéennes series A : mediterr... more Nutritional and foraging ecology of sheep and goats (Options méditerranéennes series A : mediterranean seminars 2009 Number 85) This publication is the outcome of the 12th Seminar of the FAO-CIHEAM Sub-Network on Sheep and Goat Nutrition Nutritional and foraging ecology of sheep and ...
become interested in cityward migration as an undergraduate anthropology student doing fieldwork ... more become interested in cityward migration as an undergraduate anthropology student doing fieldwork in Brazil’s northeast. Over the years I had followed the trajectories of families and individuals from fishing and agricultural villages to the squatter settlements and unserviced loteamentos (subdivisions) in Rio de Janeiro. The three communities I selected to study represented the various parts of the city where poor people could then live. They were Catacumba, a favela (squatter settlement) in the wealthy South Zone (which has since been removed and its residents relocated to more distant public housing); Nova Brasilia, a favela in the industrial North Zone (now a battleground between police and drug traffickers); and eight low-income communities in Duque de Caxias, a peripheral municipality in the Fluminense Lowlands (Baixada Fluminense). In each place I interviewed two hundred men and women (sixteen to sixty-five years old) selected at random, and fifty community leaders chosen by position and/or reputation. The locations of the three communities and the two housing project sites (Conjuntos de Quitungo, Guapore, and Cidade de Deus — City of God) are shown on the accompanying map (see figure 3.1). The data on these 750 people and their communities provided the basis for my doctoral dissertation, “The Impact of Urban Experience,” and after follow-up work in 1973, the research was also incorporated into my book, The Myth of Marginality: Urban Poverty and Politics in Rio de Janeiro. The book argued that the prevailing “myths” about social, cultural, political, and economic marginality were “empirically false, analytically misleading, and insidious in their policy implications.” Ten years later, in 1979, I returned to Rio with hopes of following up on the lives of the individuals I had interviewed, and began the process of relocating 9
Both the following cases describe mature, militant community action and technical assistance orga... more Both the following cases describe mature, militant community action and technical assistance organizations utilizing research as a principal instrument of social action. The emphasis on in-house research (and its corrolary of long-range planning) seemed highly suggestive for American community-based groups. This method of fostering social action was reason enough to engage in a study of the British groups. In addition, we chose to look into these groups because they dealt with similar issues as those faced by many American community organizations, especially those that combat gentrification and try to protect the interests of working-class and poor constituencies in a threatening economic climate. And as in our country, both the British groups were finding it difficult to fight basic structural and technological issues with limited weapons that can win some battles but are not powerful enough to win the war. There is a bittersweet quality to both of these British cases, as the successes—but also the limitations—of this sophisticated and depth-probing style of citizen action are detailed; it is a story of struggles with mixed results that also emerges, we might quickly add, when analyzing various U.S. grass-roots groups, as we have done in previous papers.1
Copenhagen is what it seems to be—a vibrant, livable “city that works”—unless you are a citizen t... more Copenhagen is what it seems to be—a vibrant, livable “city that works”—unless you are a citizen trying to make your voice heard in city planning. Despite the elaborate mechanisms for citizen participation in the planning process, the impact of such involvement is minimal. In fact, according to Vilo Sigurdsen, Deputy Mayor in charge of planning, the elaborate mechanisms for participation have produced not one single instance in recent years when a plan has been substantially modified by citizen input.
Nutritional and foraging ecology of sheep and goats (Options méditerranéennes series A : mediterr... more Nutritional and foraging ecology of sheep and goats (Options méditerranéennes series A : mediterranean seminars 2009 Number 85) This publication is the outcome of the 12th Seminar of the FAO-CIHEAM Sub-Network on Sheep and Goat Nutrition Nutritional and foraging ecology of sheep and ...
become interested in cityward migration as an undergraduate anthropology student doing fieldwork ... more become interested in cityward migration as an undergraduate anthropology student doing fieldwork in Brazil’s northeast. Over the years I had followed the trajectories of families and individuals from fishing and agricultural villages to the squatter settlements and unserviced loteamentos (subdivisions) in Rio de Janeiro. The three communities I selected to study represented the various parts of the city where poor people could then live. They were Catacumba, a favela (squatter settlement) in the wealthy South Zone (which has since been removed and its residents relocated to more distant public housing); Nova Brasilia, a favela in the industrial North Zone (now a battleground between police and drug traffickers); and eight low-income communities in Duque de Caxias, a peripheral municipality in the Fluminense Lowlands (Baixada Fluminense). In each place I interviewed two hundred men and women (sixteen to sixty-five years old) selected at random, and fifty community leaders chosen by position and/or reputation. The locations of the three communities and the two housing project sites (Conjuntos de Quitungo, Guapore, and Cidade de Deus — City of God) are shown on the accompanying map (see figure 3.1). The data on these 750 people and their communities provided the basis for my doctoral dissertation, “The Impact of Urban Experience,” and after follow-up work in 1973, the research was also incorporated into my book, The Myth of Marginality: Urban Poverty and Politics in Rio de Janeiro. The book argued that the prevailing “myths” about social, cultural, political, and economic marginality were “empirically false, analytically misleading, and insidious in their policy implications.” Ten years later, in 1979, I returned to Rio with hopes of following up on the lives of the individuals I had interviewed, and began the process of relocating 9
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Papers by Janice Perlman