In this thesis, I explore gentrification as a process that both contains and exposes contradictory components of a white identity rooted in the construction and consumption of racial borders. Specifically, I focus on the cycle of gentrification as a window into understanding some of the core contradictions of white American identity: how the real estate desires of white Americans cyclically produce and consume 'otherness' along geographic borders, and in turn how the less-than-skin-deep valuation of multiculturalism and antiracism is intrinsically tied to the devaluation of people who are pushed outside those same borders of liberal whiteness. Within the Bay Area's housing market, \"otherness\" and multicultural identity have become enticing frontiers for colonization and aesthetic reinvention–opportunities to 'eat the other'–marketable to a white identity conditionally interested in affirming an antiracist identity through cultural consumption and display. To investigate how systematic devaluation drives land markets, I analyze the construction and domination of racial borders in Oakland, Berkeley, and Emeryville. To follow the identity woven into these borders, I dig into the architecture and marketing of new housing projects and local demographic changes, specifically highlighting how 'innocence' is sold to white families. Finally, to understand how the construction of these contemporary racial borders remains intrinsically connected to a cycle of neighborhood divestment and land inflation, I examine the impacts of past racial segregation in the East Bay.
"},{"label":"Degree","value":["Bachelor of Arts with Departmental Honors"]},{"label":"Administrative Note","value":"Drupal Node ID: 24093