At last week's City Springs Elementary/Middle School staff meeting attendees were lucky to have City Springs Information Technology Coordinator Andrew DeVos share his doctoral research on the historical forces that have shaped Baltimore and many other American cities.
His presentation, Understanding Baltimore: Urban Life, Race, Class and the City: Past and Present, focused on aspects of structural racism and how those restrictions coupled with economic change have concentrated poverty in particular areas of our cities.
Mr. Devos presented a framework to understand "Baltimorization" as the product of segregation, suburbanization, deindustrialization, and mass incarceration. His engaging presentation was followed by group discussions.
Andrew DeVos is a PhD candidate in the Language, Literacy & Culture program at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County (UMBC). In addition to working at City Springs EMS, he teaches classes at UMBC in the Media and Communication Studies, American Studies, and Africana Studies departments on a seasonal basis.
