We Belong Here Gentrification, White Spacemaking, and a Black Sense of Place

A landmark study that shows how Black residents experience and respond to the rapid transformation of historically Black places. Although Portland, Oregon, is sometimes called ¿America¿s whitest city,¿ Black residents who grew up in the neighborhoods of northeast Portland have made it their own. The district of Albina, also called ¿Northeast,¿ was their haven and a hub of Black community life. But between 1990 and 2010, Albina changed dramatically¿it became majority white. In We Belong Here, sociologist Shani Adia Evans offers an intimate look at gentrification from the inside, documenting the reactions of the residents of Albina as the racial demographics of their neighborhood shift. As white culture becomes centered in Northeast, Black residents recount their experiences with what Evans refers to as ¿white watching,¿ the questioning look on the faces of white people they encounter, which conveys an exclusionary message: ¿What are you doing here?¿ This, Evans shows, is a prime example