Unearthing the Grass Roots: Organic Community Gardening in a Detroit, Michigan, Low-lncome Neighborhood
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Authors
Seamans, Jennifer L.
Issue Date
1997
Type
Thesis
Language
en_US
Keywords
Alternative Title
Abstract
The situation of low-income people in urban areas of the U.S. has been
a preoccupying interest of mine as an activist for the last two and a half years.
During the winter of 1997, I discovered that in Detroit community gardening
had been recognized by many to be particularly advantageous to marginalized
people. Community gardening made sense to me for other reasons as well.
My interest in it developed as I lived on two organic farms in the
Netherlands and Germany during the summer prior to this research. My
little experience in gardening from growing up with a rather large garden
outside Ann Arbor was strengthened during that time, as I learned from
experience that intentional community was cultivated in between the plants.
1t has also become important tome as I think about low-impact, sustainable
living as a lifestyle choice.
My experiences of the summer of 1997 were something I never could
have anticipated. I loved participating in the effort, and getting my hands
dirty in the process, but what seems possibly more important is that I learned
more about the nuances of community organizing as well as my own capacity
for working in this type of group environment. It is more plausible to me
now, looking back on previous community gardening experience, that much
of the community-building comes from simply working in proximity to
others with whom one shares a world view.
The combination of these interests, in addition to my work experience
in Detroit during the winter of 1997, brought me back to Detroit and living at
the Catholic Worker to complete my senior project on the effects of gardening
on a low-income neighborhood. I was interested in developing a close
relationship with one project as much as possible, and assessing the nature of
the community organizing that went along with gardening.
The research I originally had in mind was focused more on the
outcomes of the gardening project for the people who participated in it. I
wanted to know how getting fresh vegetables would improve their life, as
well as the extent to which gardening helped alleviate the burdens of poverty.
Sociologists have vastly differing views of the utility of community
organizing. Rubin and Rubin look at it from the perspective of the power
imbalance present between marginalized communities and governing bodies.
Milofsky sees it as a force which mobilizes resources that would normally not
be available to poor people. Jamison sees conflicts in this type of work, which
stem from diametric collectivist and bureaucratic tendencies.
If only it were as easy as snapping fingers for low-income people to gain
power and influence in our democracy! In this case, even a process as intense
as community organizing through gardening has seemingly little effect
specific to that goal. However, it seems that other aspects of life have changed
for the better. It becomes evident, as I look through my work, that one theory
is inadequate in describing all of the phenomena surrounding the gardening
project. There are strains of the gardening experience which are enriched by
each of them.
Description
iii, 136 p.
Citation
Publisher
Kalamazoo, Mich. : Kalamazoo College.
License
U.S. copyright laws protect this material. Commercial use or distribution of this material is not permitted without prior written permission of the copyright holder. All rights reserved.