{"product_id":"towering-above-harlem-geographies-of-race-and-the-power-of-elite-institutions-9781479831371","title":"Towering Above Harlem: Geographies of Race and the Power of Elite Institutions","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eCharts racialized and class-based exclusion in Morningside Heights and its surrounding area by elite institutions\u003c\/b\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eNew York City's storied diversity has also been a story of racialized class discrimination. \u003ci\u003eTowering Above Harlem\u003c\/i\u003e focuses on understudied players in this process: the elite institutions of Morningside Heights--Columbia University, Teachers College and the Riverside Church--to reveal the troubling ways in which they exploited existing geographic features to build a racially and economically exclusive \"city on a hill.\" \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eIn his final book-length work, Steven Gregory explores the long history of economic and racial discrimination in Morningside Heights, beginning in the late 19th century and extending into the present day. This exclusion of the surrounding racial minorities and working-class population has been enacted physically, through the acquisition of property by Columbia and others, but it has also been enacted through a variety of discourses and practices aimed at setting apart the so-called \"civilization-building\" mission of the elites overlooking Harlem from the racialized others in the vicinity. The book shows that the major institutions of Morningside Heights have since the beginning tried to physically secede from the Black and Puerto Rican communities geographically below the Morningside plateau, while also symbolically rising above them as beacons of progress. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eThe volume charts the coordinated effort among elites to use space to naturalize relations of power and prestige, illuminating the past, present, and uncertain future of racial discrimination and exclusivity in Morningside Heights and in New York City at large.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAbout the Author\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eSteven Gregory (Author) \u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e \u003cb\u003eSteven Gregory\u003c\/b\u003e was the inaugural Dr. Kenneth and Kareitha Forde Professor of African American and African Diaspora Studies at Columbia University. His extraordinary work in Anthropology unfolded in many books including The Devil Behind the Mirror, Santeria in New York City: A Story in Cultural Resistance, and Black Corona: Race and the Politics of Place in an Urban Community. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cb\u003eElizabeth Chin (Editor) \u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e \u003cb\u003eElizabeth Chin \u003c\/b\u003eis now an independent scholar. Since 2020 she has been Editor-in-Chief of \u003ci\u003eAmerican Anthropologist\u003c\/i\u003e, the flagship journal of the American Anthropological Association. Much of her work has focused on race and social inequality in the United States. Her books include \u003ci\u003ePurchasing Power: Black Kids and American Consumer Culture\u003c\/i\u003e, and \u003ci\u003eMy Life With Things: The Consumer Diaries.\u003c\/i\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cb\u003eArlene Dávila (Foreword by) \u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e \u003cb\u003eArlene Dávila\u003c\/b\u003e is Professor of Anthropology and American Studies at NYU. Her books include Culture Works: Space, Value and Mobility Across the Neoliberal Americas (2012) and Latino Spin: Public Image and the Whitewashing of Race (2008), both available from NYU Press. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cbr\u003e","brand":"New York University Press","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":51777280442642,"sku":"9781479831371","price":108.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0831\/4771\/8930\/files\/img_c23ddf6a-f319-47e4-91f3-9bacc4fbbd27.jpg?v=1765358925","url":"https:\/\/surprise-castle.myshopify.com\/products\/towering-above-harlem-geographies-of-race-and-the-power-of-elite-institutions-9781479831371","provider":"Surprise Castle","version":"1.0","type":"link"}