Margarethe Kusenbach
Biographic Data
| ID | 228152 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Margarethe Kusenbach |
| GIVEN NAMES | Margarethe |
| FAMILY NAME | Kusenbach |
| SIGNATURE | KUSENBACH M |
| AFFILIATIONS | University of South Florida |
| VERIFIED | No |
| TOTAL WORKS | 20 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 844 |
| WORKS AS AUTHOR | 20 |
| WORKS AS EDITOR | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2003 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2024 |
| H-INDEX | 7 |
Neighborhood as Theater
While the history of urban sociology features myriad detailed descriptions of neighborhood life reflecting various theoretical, political, and practical purposes, the field lacks general templates for conducting in-depth neighborhood research and comparison. In this paper, as a remedy, we propose a Goffmanian framework for qualitative neighborhood description and analysis which we call "neighborhood as theater." While revisiting previous ethnogra…
The United States of the Few
Poverty, by America By Matthew Desmond (Crown, 2023) There can be no doubt that Matthew Desmond, an endowed Professor at Princeton, is one of the most respected and influential contemporary sociologists. His previous book, Evicted (Desmond 2016), supported by a 2015 McArthur Fellowship, won the 2017 Pulitzer Prize for general nonfiction, and I have yet to meet anyone who does not admire this brilliant public ethnography. Desmond's many accolades …
Disasters
The chapter’s objective is to summarize various theoretical and substantive contributions that researchers working in the tradition of Symbolic Interactionism have brought to disaster studies. We begin by discussing the advantages of conceptualizing disasters from a social constructionist perspective in public and political discourse. Next, we continue our review by turning to constructionist and interactionist thinking (or lack thereof) with reg…
A New Guide Offers Helpful Methodological Advice on Life History Interviewing
Trailer Trash” Stigma and Belonging in Florida Mobile Home Parks
In the United States, residents of mobile homes and mobile home communities are faced with cultural stigmatization regarding their places of living. While common, the “trailer trash” stigma, an example of both housing and neighborhood/territorial stigma, has been understudied in contemporary research. Through a range of discursive strategies, many subgroups within this larger population manage to successfully distance themselves from the stigma a…
New Research on Housing and Territorial Stigma
This introduction to the thematic issue on housing and territorial stigma provides concise overviews of the concepts of stigma, housing stigma, and territorial (or neighborhood) stigma, while tracing back current research on these topics to the pioneering work of Erving Goffman and Loic Wacquant. In doing this, we place particular attention on social responses to, and coping strategies with, stigma, especially various forms of stigma resistance. …
For a comparative sociology of home
Home matters, for people's everyday life and for social research, in ways that are still lacking a systematic sociological framework of analysis. As a contribution toward this framework, we define home as an emplaced relationship that prioritizes certain socio-material contexts over others, by virtue of the emotional, affective and practical values attached to them, in forms and degrees that change over space and time. This understanding highligh…
Home/House
Home encompasses a distinct set of experiences and processes that, while typically associated with houses and dwellings, need not be. People may feel at home in places that are not houses, and within their own dwelling may lack a sense of home. The entry discusses distinct dimensions of the meaning and conception of home that are relevant for urban and community scholars, such as culture, identity, practice, emotion, and belonging. Home can be un…
Innovative Ethnography Discovers New Links Between (Sexual) Identity, Culture, and City Ecology
Martina Löw 2016
Look at my house!” Home and mobile home ownership among Latino/a immigrants in Florida
Equally Unprepared
Students have been described as being both particularly vulnerable to natural disasters and highly resilient in recovery. In addition, they often have been treated as a distinct, homogeneous group sharing similar characteristics. This research tests these ideas through an examination of hurricane-related perceptions and preparations of students in a hurricane-prone area. A survey of over 500 undergraduate students (15% on-campus residents, 85% of…
Bringing the Social Back in
As a relatively new area of inquiry, it is not surprising that the research agendas and methodological tools of the sociology of emotions are still evolving. Our goal in this article is to offer new ideas toward emphasizing the social, as opposed to individual, dimensions of emotions in sociological research. What are the historical, cultural, and biographical structures and contexts of individual emotional experiences? What are the social and po…
Salvaging Decency
Mitgehen als Methode Der »Go-Along« in der phänomenologischen Forschungspraxis
Phänomenologische Untersuchungen in Nachbardisziplinen der Soziologie haben ergeben, dass unsere Erfahrung der Umwelt in grundlegender Weise auf die Koordinaten unseres Leibes (lived body) aufbaut. Dies bedeutet letztendlich, dass der Begriff des Ortes (place) dem des Raumes (space) vorausgeht. Der Philosoph (1993: 43ff) beschreibt unsere ursprüngliche Wahrnehmung der Umwelt als eine Vielfalt von Orten, die von den Bewegungen des Leibes konstitui…
A Hierarchy of Urban Communities
Revisiting Hunter's (1974 , 1979 ) classic but rarely applied notion of a “hierarchy of communities,” this article investigates the nested meanings and uses of place in the urban realm. Qualitative research conducted in two Los Angeles neighborhoods in the late 1990s revealed the existence of four layers of community, here called microsettings, street blocks, walking distance neighborhoods, and enclaves. While all these geographies have been exam…
Patterns of Neighboring
This article investigates the practices and functions of neighboring. It is based on interviews and "go-alongs" with over sixty residents and on ethnographic observation of two middle-class neighborhoods in Hollywood, California. Building on Lofland's (1998) model of three social realms (the public, the parochial, and the private), I conceptualize neighboring as a set of interactive principles that characterize parochial or communal territories s…
News from the Old World
Newcomers to Old Towns
Street Phenomenology
This article introduces and evaluates the go-along as a qualitative research tool. What sets this technique apart from traditional ethnographic methods such as participant observation and interviewing is its potential to access some of the transcendent and reflexive aspects of lived experience in situ. Drawing on ethnographic fieldwork conducted in two urban neighborhoods, I examine five themes which go-alongs are particularly suited to explore: …
Street Phenomenology
This article introduces and evaluates the go-along as a qualitative research tool. What sets this technique apart from traditional ethnographic methods such as participant observation and interviewing is its potential to access some of the transcendent and reflexive aspects of lived experience in situ. Drawing on ethnographic fieldwork conducted in two urban neighborhoods, I examine five themes which go-alongs are particularly suited to explore: …
Salvaging Decency
Patterns of Neighboring
This article investigates the practices and functions of neighboring. It is based on interviews and "go-alongs" with over sixty residents and on ethnographic observation of two middle-class neighborhoods in Hollywood, California. Building on Lofland's (1998) model of three social realms (the public, the parochial, and the private), I conceptualize neighboring as a set of interactive principles that characterize parochial or communal territories s…
A Hierarchy of Urban Communities
Revisiting Hunter's (1974 , 1979 ) classic but rarely applied notion of a “hierarchy of communities,” this article investigates the nested meanings and uses of place in the urban realm. Qualitative research conducted in two Los Angeles neighborhoods in the late 1990s revealed the existence of four layers of community, here called microsettings, street blocks, walking distance neighborhoods, and enclaves. While all these geographies have been exam…
For a comparative sociology of home
Home matters, for people's everyday life and for social research, in ways that are still lacking a systematic sociological framework of analysis. As a contribution toward this framework, we define home as an emplaced relationship that prioritizes certain socio-material contexts over others, by virtue of the emotional, affective and practical values attached to them, in forms and degrees that change over space and time. This understanding highligh…
New Research on Housing and Territorial Stigma
This introduction to the thematic issue on housing and territorial stigma provides concise overviews of the concepts of stigma, housing stigma, and territorial (or neighborhood) stigma, while tracing back current research on these topics to the pioneering work of Erving Goffman and Loic Wacquant. In doing this, we place particular attention on social responses to, and coping strategies with, stigma, especially various forms of stigma resistance. …
Look at my house!” Home and mobile home ownership among Latino/a immigrants in Florida
Trailer Trash” Stigma and Belonging in Florida Mobile Home Parks
In the United States, residents of mobile homes and mobile home communities are faced with cultural stigmatization regarding their places of living. While common, the “trailer trash” stigma, an example of both housing and neighborhood/territorial stigma, has been understudied in contemporary research. Through a range of discursive strategies, many subgroups within this larger population manage to successfully distance themselves from the stigma a…
Bringing the Social Back in
As a relatively new area of inquiry, it is not surprising that the research agendas and methodological tools of the sociology of emotions are still evolving. Our goal in this article is to offer new ideas toward emphasizing the social, as opposed to individual, dimensions of emotions in sociological research. What are the historical, cultural, and biographical structures and contexts of individual emotional experiences? What are the social and po…
Street Phenomenology
This article introduces and evaluates the go-along as a qualitative research tool. What sets this technique apart from traditional ethnographic methods such as participant observation and interviewing is its potential to access some of the transcendent and reflexive aspects of lived experience in situ. Drawing on ethnographic fieldwork conducted in two urban neighborhoods, I examine five themes which go-alongs are particularly suited to explore: …
Newcomers to Old Towns
News from the Old World
Patterns of Neighboring
This article investigates the practices and functions of neighboring. It is based on interviews and "go-alongs" with over sixty residents and on ethnographic observation of two middle-class neighborhoods in Hollywood, California. Building on Lofland's (1998) model of three social realms (the public, the parochial, and the private), I conceptualize neighboring as a set of interactive principles that characterize parochial or communal territories s…
Mitgehen als Methode Der »Go-Along« in der phänomenologischen Forschungspraxis
Phänomenologische Untersuchungen in Nachbardisziplinen der Soziologie haben ergeben, dass unsere Erfahrung der Umwelt in grundlegender Weise auf die Koordinaten unseres Leibes (lived body) aufbaut. Dies bedeutet letztendlich, dass der Begriff des Ortes (place) dem des Raumes (space) vorausgeht. Der Philosoph (1993: 43ff) beschreibt unsere ursprüngliche Wahrnehmung der Umwelt als eine Vielfalt von Orten, die von den Bewegungen des Leibes konstitui…
A Hierarchy of Urban Communities
Revisiting Hunter's (1974 , 1979 ) classic but rarely applied notion of a “hierarchy of communities,” this article investigates the nested meanings and uses of place in the urban realm. Qualitative research conducted in two Los Angeles neighborhoods in the late 1990s revealed the existence of four layers of community, here called microsettings, street blocks, walking distance neighborhoods, and enclaves. While all these geographies have been exam…
Salvaging Decency
Equally Unprepared
Students have been described as being both particularly vulnerable to natural disasters and highly resilient in recovery. In addition, they often have been treated as a distinct, homogeneous group sharing similar characteristics. This research tests these ideas through an examination of hurricane-related perceptions and preparations of students in a hurricane-prone area. A survey of over 500 undergraduate students (15% on-campus residents, 85% of…
Bringing the Social Back in
As a relatively new area of inquiry, it is not surprising that the research agendas and methodological tools of the sociology of emotions are still evolving. Our goal in this article is to offer new ideas toward emphasizing the social, as opposed to individual, dimensions of emotions in sociological research. What are the historical, cultural, and biographical structures and contexts of individual emotional experiences? What are the social and po…
Look at my house!” Home and mobile home ownership among Latino/a immigrants in Florida
Martina Löw 2016
Innovative Ethnography Discovers New Links Between (Sexual) Identity, Culture, and City Ecology
Home/House
Home encompasses a distinct set of experiences and processes that, while typically associated with houses and dwellings, need not be. People may feel at home in places that are not houses, and within their own dwelling may lack a sense of home. The entry discusses distinct dimensions of the meaning and conception of home that are relevant for urban and community scholars, such as culture, identity, practice, emotion, and belonging. Home can be un…
Trailer Trash” Stigma and Belonging in Florida Mobile Home Parks
In the United States, residents of mobile homes and mobile home communities are faced with cultural stigmatization regarding their places of living. While common, the “trailer trash” stigma, an example of both housing and neighborhood/territorial stigma, has been understudied in contemporary research. Through a range of discursive strategies, many subgroups within this larger population manage to successfully distance themselves from the stigma a…
New Research on Housing and Territorial Stigma
This introduction to the thematic issue on housing and territorial stigma provides concise overviews of the concepts of stigma, housing stigma, and territorial (or neighborhood) stigma, while tracing back current research on these topics to the pioneering work of Erving Goffman and Loic Wacquant. In doing this, we place particular attention on social responses to, and coping strategies with, stigma, especially various forms of stigma resistance. …
For a comparative sociology of home
Home matters, for people's everyday life and for social research, in ways that are still lacking a systematic sociological framework of analysis. As a contribution toward this framework, we define home as an emplaced relationship that prioritizes certain socio-material contexts over others, by virtue of the emotional, affective and practical values attached to them, in forms and degrees that change over space and time. This understanding highligh…
Disasters
The chapter’s objective is to summarize various theoretical and substantive contributions that researchers working in the tradition of Symbolic Interactionism have brought to disaster studies. We begin by discussing the advantages of conceptualizing disasters from a social constructionist perspective in public and political discourse. Next, we continue our review by turning to constructionist and interactionist thinking (or lack thereof) with reg…
A New Guide Offers Helpful Methodological Advice on Life History Interviewing
Neighborhood as Theater
While the history of urban sociology features myriad detailed descriptions of neighborhood life reflecting various theoretical, political, and practical purposes, the field lacks general templates for conducting in-depth neighborhood research and comparison. In this paper, as a remedy, we propose a Goffmanian framework for qualitative neighborhood description and analysis which we call "neighborhood as theater." While revisiting previous ethnogra…
The United States of the Few
Poverty, by America By Matthew Desmond (Crown, 2023) There can be no doubt that Matthew Desmond, an endowed Professor at Princeton, is one of the most respected and influential contemporary sociologists. His previous book, Evicted (Desmond 2016), supported by a 2015 McArthur Fellowship, won the 2017 Pulitzer Prize for general nonfiction, and I have yet to meet anyone who does not admire this brilliant public ethnography. Desmond's many accolades …
Sociology (17 works) · Political science (9 works) · Psychology (9 works) · Anthropology (7 works) · Computer Science (7 works) · Homelessness and Social Issues (7 works) · Social science (7 works) · Aesthetics (6 works) · Epistemology (6 works) · Urban, Neighborhood, and Segregation Studies (6 works)