Dreaming Home: Cultural Imagination and Racial Realities of Home Ownership

Owning a home is one of the most powerful symbols of the American Dream: a vessel with which Americans can start a family, grow vibrant communities, and build intergenerational wealth. But the history of American home ownership is riddled with inequalities, racism, myopic polices, and economic disasters like the subprime mortgage crisis of 2007.

How can we better understand the reality of home ownership in America—its economic, sociological, and racial histories, as well as the cultural productions that shape our imagination of what it means to own a home?

In this Dean’s Salon, Deborah L. Nelson, dean of the Division of the Humanities at the University of Chicago, will explore the complexity of American home ownership and housing inequalities in the city of Chicago with the sociologist Robin Bartram and the cultural theorist Adrienne Brown, two preeminent scholars who have researched and written widely about these issues. Topics will include the racialized nature of home ownership, systemic extractions of wealth, and the allure of property—with the aim of generating clarity and new perspectives on re-imagining more equitable, holistic, and sustainable housing solutions for Chicago and other American cities.

Please join us for this special hybrid event on February 25, 2025. You can register to participate via Zoom or in person at the Green Line Performing Arts Center.

 

To register, click here.