How to notice the potholes without falling into them?

How to notice the potholes without falling into them? Discussing outsider perceptions of his city, 16-year-old Brandon told me, “You may see certain places in Camden, might think the whole place is a pothole, but it’s not.” Brandon’s imagery is incisive. A pothole is a surface expression of structural problems that are not visible above ground. In Camden, New Jersey, the city where he lives, racist histories of disinvestment and the underfunding of public infrastructure have left roads riddled with bumps and cracks. But a pothole is also a distraction: a dip in the pavement that diverts attention from one’s surroundings. In urging us to look beyond the pothole, Brandon calls for an appreciation of not only the structural problems shaping his environment, but also all that is missed when preoccupied with damage (Tuck 2009). His assertion is a provocation for researchers: how to notice the potholes without falling into them?

References

Tuck, Eve. 2009. Suspending damage: A letter to communities. Harvard Educational Review 79(3): 409-427.

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