Date of Award

1999

Degree Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Honors Thesis

Department

Anthropology

First Advisor

Sue Kenyon

Second Advisor

Paul Hansen

Abstract

The purpose of this ethnographic study has been to learn about the sub-culture of the Butler-Tarkington Neighborhood: who the people are who live in its geographic boundaries (according to each other) and how they experience and construct their community. Although residents recognize to some degree that their neighborhood is fragmented into smaller areas, most emphasize a sense of belonging to the neighborhood as a geographic whole, taking pride in its reputation for stability, diversity and integration. The "strong sense of community'" and stability that residents often say they enjoy relies on common interests and a shared goal among active residents to make Butler-Tarkington the kind of neighborhood in which they want to live. I show that community is built on the one hand by the cooperation of neighborhood institutions that pull different residents together within a common sense of order.

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