[slumstudies] Re: Let's Brainstorm!

  • From: "Lindsey, Delario" <LINDSEYD1@xxxxxxxxx>
  • To: <slumstudies@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
  • Date: Mon, 9 Nov 2009 14:53:27 -0500

Thanks Nicole!
 
Delario Lindsey, Ph.D.
Department of African, African-American and Caribbean Studies
Department of Liberal Studies
William Paterson University - New Jersey

________________________________

From: slumstudies-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx on behalf of Oretsky, Nicole
Sent: Mon 11/9/2009 11:12 AM
To: slumstudies@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: [slumstudies] Re: Let's Brainstorm!



Hi Everyone:

 

I am very interested in participating in the Slum Studies Project. My current 
research concerns the struggle for housing and environmental justice for the 
American ghetto. More specifically, I am concerned with 1) how public policy 
contributes toward the concentration of substandard housing supply and the 
severe housing cost burden in isolated, low-income neighborhoods, and 2) the 
disproportionate environmental burden that poor communities face while they 
reap very little environmental benefits. 

 

I am now launching our Urban Studies and Environmental Justice Project (USEJ), 
which is primarily concerned with consequent health disparities. USEJ engages 
in community outreach; designs and instructs university courses; and conducts 
applied research in environmental justice and health disparities. In the 
current initial start-up period, USEJ will focus on toxin exposure and housing, 
with a particular focus on lead exposure and health disparities. 

 

My take:

 

Environmental Injustice and Health Disparities

In American cities, environmental disparities are common across racial and 
class lines. Inner-city minority and low income communities are 
disproportionately affected by air, water and soil pollution. Inadequate 
abatement of negative externalities from historical industrial manufacturing 
activities, and lack of enforcement of building codes, has left a toxic 
environmental legacy. Older and under-maintained housing is a source of health 
disparities due to higher frequencies of exposure to lead and other industrial 
toxins, mold, and pests; lack of adequate insulation and modern heating or air 
conditioning; and health threats such as hypertension and other stress-related 
illnesses due to housing insecurity and slumlord activity. In addition, due to 
spatial and socio-economic segregation, disadvantaged communities have unequal 
access to such environmental goods as fresh, nutritious food; green parks and 
outdoor recreation facilities; health care clinics and quality schools, public 
transportation, and secure employment. 

 

Research Interests

·         The American ghetto and political economic theory

·         Urban policy and low income housing

·         Environmental Justice, the 'right to know,' and health disparities

 

 

Best Regards,

Nicole

 

 

Dr. Nicole Oretsky

Assistant Professor of Urban Studies

Urban Studies and Planning Program

Savannah State University

3219 College Street

Savannah, Georgia 31404

(O) 912-303-1886

(C) 917-584-2465

oretskyn@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

 

 

From: slumstudies-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx 
[mailto:slumstudies-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of Prof. Delario Lindsey
Sent: Sunday, November 08, 2009 3:40 PM
To: Slum Studies Research Group
Subject: [slumstudies] Let's Brainstorm!

 

Greetings All,
I was thinking, as part of the process of developing the Slum Studies project 
and getting to know one another, each of us should contribute a series of 
topics or issues about which the group can collectively brainstorm and discuss. 
 I believe this to be a necessary process as it helps us to collectively frame 
the parameters of the project in accordance with our individual scholarly 
interests.  Also, what better way of getting to know someone (particularly an 
academic) than by familiarizing yourself with their scholarly/intellectual 
priorities.  I have listed a few of my scholarly priorities regarding Slum 
Studies below.  Submit your own lists, and please share your thoughts about my 
topics and issues.  

-D

Topics/Issues of consequence:
- Re-imagining the core/periphery relationship 
- The relationship between national development and urban development
- The relationship between the urban and the rural (push/pull forces)
- Slum, Favela, Shanty: regional interpretations of profound (urban) inequality
- Crime, Safety, and Social Control in the slum
- The Slum and the Lives of Women and Children
- Cultural Contributions of the Slum (read: the favelas of Rio de Janeiro and 
Carnival)


-- 
Delario Lindsey, Ph.D.
Department of African, African-American and Caribbean Studies
Department of Liberal Studies
William Paterson University - New Jersey

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