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After learning about gentrification in Professor Thomas Owusu’s geography class, geography and economics dual-major Shawn Gaffney ‘22 chose this topic for her honors thesis in the social sciences track to further explore her identity as a biracial person while understanding how discriminatory policies put in place create divergent Black and White experiences.
Gentrification is the displacement of people or their culture, typically minorities, because of renewal policies or high-income residents moving into a community, resulting in raised rent prices that impact those already living there and forcing them to seek a new area to reside in.
“Learning about gentrification made me very angry because renewal policies should be for the suffering community - it shouldn't push them out - so I wanted to learn more about it. Eventually, because gentrification was too vague a topic, I settled on researching Philadelphia because that's where my mother grew up, and about the Black community as part of exploring my identity as a biracial Black-Scottish person,” says Gaffney.
Due to the breadth of research already conducted on gentrification hot spots in Philadelphia, Gaffney wanted to further understand the narrative of how it felt to be gentrified and why Black people suffered more extreme consequences from the threat of gentrification.
She quickly discovered that varying aspects of institutionalized racism were the main culprit.
“I noted key historic barriers such as redlining, not having access to fulfilling jobs or the benefits of the G.I. Bill, riots and mobs, and ineffective renewal policies that led to Black folks suffering more than white communities when gentrification occurred,” says Gaffney.
Gaffney credits Professor Owusu, Neil Kressel, professor of psychology, and Barbara Andrew, dean of the Honors College, with inspiring her to choose her topic and reaching her academic goals. While it was Professor Owusu who led Gaffney to her research topic, she recalls Professor Kressel giving her the boost she needed to complete her research paper on time, including help in gathering material.
“Professor Kressel really helped by encouraging me to stop writing and to read hundreds of pages of urban planning material. He also talked to me about how I should organize my paper,” says Gaffney. “I would go to Dean Andrew when I was exhausted and ask her about her previous experience writing her paper for some emotional support. She was extremely helpful and I still think about her advice when writing.”
Gaffney regularly attends civic engagement events on campus and serves as the vice president of both the Academic Affairs Committee of the Student Government Association and the Political Science Club. She also is a member of the newly created Council of Equity and Justice and serves as a student ambassador for the Center for Diversity and Inclusion.
