There Goes the Gayborhood?: 68 (Princeton Studies in Cultural Sociology) - Softcover

Ghaziani, Amin

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0691168415 ISBN 13: 9780691168418

Publisher: Princeton University Press, 2015

Synopsis

Gay neighborhoods, like the legendary Castro District in San Francisco and New York's Greenwich Village, have long provided sexual minorities with safe havens in an often unsafe world. But as our society increasingly accepts gays and lesbians into the mainstream, are "gayborhoods" destined to disappear? Amin Ghaziani provides an incisive look at the origins of these unique cultural enclaves, the reasons why they are changing today, and their prospects for the future. Drawing on a wealth of evidence--including census data, opinion polls, hundreds of newspaper reports from across the United States, and more than one hundred original interviews with residents in Chicago, one of the most paradigmatic cities in America--There Goes the Gayborhood? argues that political gains and societal acceptance are allowing gays and lesbians to imagine expansive possibilities for a life beyond the gayborhood. The dawn of a new post-gay era is altering the character and composition of existing enclaves across the country, but the spirit of integration can coexist alongside the celebration of differences in subtle and sometimes surprising ways. Exploring the intimate relationship between sexuality and the city, this cutting-edge book reveals how gayborhoods, like the cities that surround them, are organic and continually evolving places. Gayborhoods have nurtured sexual minorities throughout the twentieth century and, despite the unstoppable forces of flux, will remain resonant and revelatory features of urban life.

About this title

Review

"Drawing on an impressive array of media sources, census counts, opinion polls, interviews and ethnographic observations, Ghaziani develops a nuanced and sophisticated understanding of social change related to gay-dominated areas within metropolitan cities. The arguments in the book are oriented around one particular paradox: the perceived decline of 'the gayborhood' in US cities and the emergence of a post-gay world occurred primarily because of the erosion of homophobia. How do gay people keep together, Ghaziani asks, when they no longer see the need to live in the same place for safety or solidarity? . . . Ghaziani writes in an engaging, inclusive style, and it is easy to see why his book has drawn such widespread media attention. This is done without loss of clarity or academic rigor, and is particularly welcome in a sub-discipline where language all-too-often becomes obtuse and impenetrable."---Mark McCormack, Sociology

"Selected for the 2015 Over the Rainbow Project book list, American Library Association"

"Ghaziani adopts a wide-reaching, diachronic perspective on the rise of gay neighborhoods in the USA, one informed by the analysis of an impressive indeed overwhelming range of statistical data, in support of his findings the author making use of a great deal of census data, from opinion polls to censuses of national gay and lesbian population. . . . In this highly topical well researched work, Ghaziani contributes a broad, cross-disciplinary investigation as well as an in-depth treatment of the future of gaybourhood in urban America, reflecting authoritatively on the new 'cultural archipelagos' of gay enclaves and cisgender identity."---Adriana Neagu, American British Canadian Studies

"Gayborhood is an excellent resource . . . [The book] presents an intriguing answer to its question. The gayborhood is not simply 'disappearing, ' but it is transforming and changing. Working with this complex process rather than lamenting a time past is an interesting way to think about queerness and queer identity in a world that is also fluid and changing."--Journal of Homosexuality

"The book especially takes up the important question of whether or not the disappearance of predominantly gay neighborhoods indicates new urban problems or new urban possibilities. Drawing on a combination of archival, interview and ethnographic data, Ghaziani explores the rise, fall, and relative importance of establishing, sustaining and maintaining predominantly gay urban neighborhoods... Once invisible areas of the city, urban gay neighborhoods have become featured in many city maps and tourism ephemera as places to see, eat, party, and understand the city writ large. Ghaziani powerfully builds from this contemporary reality to reveal the historical, political, and economic consequences of the heightened visibility of LGBT citizens and the neighborhoods in which they predominate."---Marcus Anthony Hunter, Metropolitics

"Because of 'post-gay' neoliberalism and its concomitant gradual assimilation of gays and lesbians into cultural norms, the shouty 'We're here, We're Queer, Get Used to It!' is being supplanted by the whispery apologia 'I may be gay but I'm ethnically straight.' Maybe Dorothy doesn't need Oz any more. . . . [But] Ghaziani argues for the gaybourhood's longevity as an idea of safe space, and I agree. We are still not quite out of Kansas."---Sally R. Munt, Times Higher Education

"Ghaziani believes gayborhoods won't so much disappear as morph into something different: smaller clusters of gay residents gathering together in neighborhoods all over the city. . . . The momentum of dispersal may prove more powerful than the lure of nostalgia in an era of increasing tolerance and a climate of legal equality. But Ghaziani isn't ready to concede. He proclaims his confidence that gay neighborhoods have a future in American cities, even if that future looks much different from the recent past. Whether or not he is right, he is echoing sentiments that have been expressed by a long series of minority groups as they have moved away from the 'old neighborhood' and into a new reality of assimilation in the past century and a half of American urban life."---Alan Ehrenhalt, Governing

"There Goes the Gayborhood is an ambitious book and a valuable resource for scholars in sexualities and LGBTQ studies, urban and cultural sociology, and the general public as well. It starts an important conversation about what's happening to gay neighborhoods across the country. Its clear prose and empirical rigor make it deserving of a wide readership in and beyond sociology."---James Joseph Dean, Gender & Society

"Neighborhoods, like patterns of discrimination, have their moral careers. . . . What then, is happening to the gayborhood? As sociologists are apt to say, it's complicated. But it's complicated in interesting ways. Openly LGBTQ people do live in more places and are less concentrated than they were before. . . . Like the decreasing importance of citizenship in an increasingly globalized world, there seems to be something less and less necessary about geographical belonging. And yet, the declining significance of place can often be deceptive. . . . Ghaziani reminds us how even as LGBTQ people slowly move into the mainstream, place can matter in new ways."---Iddo Tavory, Public Books

"Ghaziani is actually one of the best sociologists we have working in our field. Years of diligent research undergird this commentary. For every voice he evokes from his arsenal of notes, dozens more lurk silent save for the statistics: quantitative data in sharp tables and graphs suggest a tectonic shift in the geography and demography of our gayborhoods. This is a work to be trusted . . . [and] a timely book, one well-designed for lackeys and laymen alike. If you're looking to gift a good read to a smart friend, Ghaziani is a great way to go."---C. Todd White, Out In Jersey

From the Back Cover

"Through the lens of gayborhoods, Amin Ghaziani offers a provocative and insightful new analysis of the gay experience. He combines historical documentation, popular media accounts, and empirical data to tell a compelling story of how gayborhoods shaped LGBT and urban life in America and considers what might be next for these enclaves in a post-gay society."--Gary J. Gates, Williams Institute, University of California, Los Angeles

"What happens to cities when gay life moves out of the closet and into the streets? In this important book, Amin Ghaziani examines the cultural politics and political economy of the gayborhood, charting its emergence as a safe space in a hostile environment and its evolving role in the gentrifying metropolis. There Goes the Gayborhood? is original, timely, and provocative. It's destined to spark a heated debate."--Eric Klinenberg, author of Going Solo and Heat Wave

"As gayness moves from the closet to the mainstream, the social and spatial structure of the gay community is inevitably changing. Social transformations are always expressed in the urban landscape, and gay neighborhoods are no exception. In his superb new book, Amin Ghaziani offers a nuanced and perceptive guide to the changing nature of gay life in contemporary urban America. As a former resident of San Francisco's Castro neighborhood during its heyday, I read the book with great interest and much appreciation for the power of Ghaziani's sociological imagination."--Douglas S. Massey, Princeton University

"Gayborhoods may come and go, but identities continue to inform processes of urbanization. This is a lively and informative read that contributes to contemporary theorizing on sexuality and space. Ghaziani deftly parses through demographic information and sociological narratives to clarify the histories and futures of sexual communities in the era of the post-gay."--Jasbir K. Puar, author of Terrorist Assemblages: Homonationalism in Queer Times

"Examining the declining centrality of iconic urban gayborhoods in the wake of dramatic gains in social acceptance of gays and lesbians, Ghaziani nimbly escapes the twin pitfalls of lamenting liberationist losses or celebrating assimilationist victories. This sensitive and sensible intervention into 'post-gay' discourse on the shifting social geography of sex and the city makes welcome contributions to both queer and urban studies."--Judith Stacey, New York University

"There Goes the Gayborhood? is an extraordinarily researched and considered study of how we understand neighborhoods, communities, and cities in the post-gay era. Despite the increasing tolerance and support of gay culture in today's society, Ghaziani makes a clear and cogent case that the gayborhood remains an important source of identity, social capital, and solidarity among sexual minorities."--Elizabeth Currid-Halkett, author of The Warhol Economy

"Marshaling census data, historical records, and voices of gayborhood denizens, Ghaziani tells the complex story of queer geographies in the United States. In doing so, he eloquently documents how gayborhoods--their compositions, meanings, and functions--have evolved along with larger cultural, gendered, economic, and sexual changes."--C. J. Pascoe, author of Dude, You're a Fag: Masculinity and Sexuality in High School

"There Goes the Gayborhood? contributes to the important and growing literature on sexuality, moving past questions about individual identity and social-movement activism to address broader questions about daily life, social interaction, and the spaces in which people live."--Robert Wuthnow, author of Small-Town America

About this edition

• Publisher: Princeton University Press
• Publication date: 2015
• ISBN 10: 0691168415
• ISBN 13: 9780691168418
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 280