Kinder Institute Forum: Elizabeth Korver-Glenn and Sarah Mayorga

Sociologists Elizabeth Korver-Glenn and Sarah Mayorga will be in conversation with Kinder Institute Director Ruth N. López Turley about their book, "A Good Reputation: How Residents Fight for an American Barrio."

Korver-Glenn and Mayorga delve into the development and transformation of the reputation of Houston's Northside neighborhood. Drawing on two years of ethnographic research and in-depth interviews with residents, developers, and other neighborhood stakeholders, the authors show that people’s perceptions of their neighborhoods are essential to understanding urban inequality and poverty, The book discusses the complexity of high-poverty urban neighborhoods, demonstrating that gentrification is a more complicated and irregular process than existing accounts of urban inequality would suggest.

Korver-Glenn is an assistant professor of sociology at the University of North Carolina - Chapel Hill. Her award-winning research has been published in American Sociological Review, Social Problems, Social Currents, Sociology of Race and Ethnicity, and City & Community, among other peer-reviewed outlets. Her work has also been featured in national news outlets, including The Washington Post.

Mayorga is Professor and Chair of Sociology and Core Faculty in the Latin American, Caribbean, and Latinx Studies Program at Brandeis University. Her research interests are the sociology of racism, cities, and Latinx migration. In addition to "A Good Reputation," she has published two books: "Behind the White Picket Fence: Power and Privilege in a Multiethnic Neighborhood" and "Urban Specters: The Everyday Harms of Racial Capitalism."

The Kinder Institute Forum lecture series brings thought leaders from around the world to Houston to share ideas about today’s most pressing urban issues. Previous speakers include Pulitzer Prize-winning author Matthew Desmond, global urbanist Richard Florida, historian Richard Rothstein, urban advocate and strategist Carol Coletta, education leader Ruth J. Simmons and U.S. Census Bureau Director Robert L. Santos.

Host or Publisher Kinder Institute for Urban Research