What Disappears Quietly: Gentrification and Childhood Memory
Type of Presentation
Paper
Location
C3331
Start Date
4-10-2026 2:30 PM
End Date
4-10-2026 3:00 PM
Description of Program
This memoir chapter explores the transformation of Chicago's Little Village neighborhood through the lens of childhood memory and urban change. Beginning with contemporary reports of rising property taxes and community resistance to gentrification, the piece moves into a narrative of bus rides, street vendors, language, and family rituals that shaped my early understanding of home. Through creative nonfiction, I examine how displacement does not always occur through forced eviction but through gradual distance, economic mobility, suburban relocation, and cultural assimilation. By weaving personal narrative with research on housing inequity and neighborhood restructuring, this project positions memory as a form of resistance and documentation. In presenting this work, I argue that storytelling can serve as a counter-archive to urban erasure, preserving the emotional and cultural textures of communities undergoing transformation.
Abstract
This memoir chapter explores the transformation of Chicago's Little Village neighborhood through the lens of childhood memory and urban change. Beginning with contemporary reports of rising property taxes and community resistance to gentrification, the piece moves into a narrative of bus rides, street vendors, language, and family rituals that shaped my early understanding of home. Through creative nonfiction, I examine how displacement does not always occur through forced eviction but through gradual distance, economic mobility, suburban relocation, and cultural assimilation. By weaving personal narrative with research on housing inequity and neighborhood restructuring, this project positions memory as a form of resistance and documentation. In presenting this work, I argue that storytelling can serve as a counter-archive to urban erasure, preserving the emotional and cultural textures of communities undergoing transformation.
Faculty / Staff Sponsor
Dr. Taylor Rodgers
Presentation File
wf_no
What Disappears Quietly: Gentrification and Childhood Memory
C3331
This memoir chapter explores the transformation of Chicago's Little Village neighborhood through the lens of childhood memory and urban change. Beginning with contemporary reports of rising property taxes and community resistance to gentrification, the piece moves into a narrative of bus rides, street vendors, language, and family rituals that shaped my early understanding of home. Through creative nonfiction, I examine how displacement does not always occur through forced eviction but through gradual distance, economic mobility, suburban relocation, and cultural assimilation. By weaving personal narrative with research on housing inequity and neighborhood restructuring, this project positions memory as a form of resistance and documentation. In presenting this work, I argue that storytelling can serve as a counter-archive to urban erasure, preserving the emotional and cultural textures of communities undergoing transformation.