Latin American and Latino Studies

Erika Davis
PhD candidate at the University of Florida 
 
This research examines how Latinx educational advocates navigate racialized city politics in nearby Allentown, Pennsylvania, a city whose Latinx population recently surpassed 50 percent. Specifically, it tells the story of how the majority-Puerto Rican Latinx community members, who once revitalized the city during deindustrialization and White flight, resist displacement as the city undergoes a "renaissance," or tax-incentivized, corporate development. Through critical ethnographic methods, this research examines how Latinx community members engage in the racial project of city-level resource allocation to impact educational outcomes locally.