At risk - the fed up honeys re-present the gentrification of ther Lower East Side

While gentrification is often represented within the framework of real estate capital as evidence of urban progress, this emphasis loses sight of not only its role in processes of community transformation, but also how it is experienced within a broader context of disenfranchisement by working class communities. This paper considers the experience of urban economic restructuring from the "inside" perspective of young working class women of color who have grown up in the Lower East Side neighborhood of New York City during the 1990s, a time of intensive gentrification, witnessing their neighborhood change while still living in it. In a participatory action research project entitled "Makes Me Mad: Stereotypes of young urban womyn of color" (www.fed-up-honeys.org), six young women researchers (the Fed Up Honeys) investigated the relationship between the disinvestment and gentrification of their community, public representations, and their self-understanding.