There Went the Neighborhood: Spatial Rhetoric, Spatial Occupation, Regendering and Forgetting in Mid-Century Detroit

Abstract

This essay shows the rhetorical and material process of regendering and forgetting that accompanied the downsizing and tearing down of U.S. progressive-era settlement homes founded by female maternalists who lost their ethos by mid-century in the U.S. The regendering of place by mid-century urban renewalist’s rhetoric, policy and culture enabled the elimination of neighborhoods. It made vulnerable the concept and material space of the neighborhood as a headquarters for community engagement, and denied the emotional attachment to homes that Progressive-Era maternalists embraced. The legacy of maternalist placemaking layered into Detroit’s contemporary social service agencies embodies the impact of this regendering.

Disclosure Statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1 Thank you to RR reviewers Jessica Enoch and Wendy Hayden for their generative comments.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Liz Rohan

Liz Rohan is a Professor of Composition and Rhetoric at the University of Michigan-Dearborn. With Gesa Kirsch she is the editor of Beyond the Archives: Research as Lived Process (Southern Illinois Press, 2008). Her research that reflects her ongoing interests in pedagogy, feminist research methods, and America's progressive era have appeared in journals such as Rhetoric Review, Composition Studies, Pedagogy, JAEPL, Reflections, Composition Forum, Peitho and also in several book chapters.