The Detroit Entrepreneurship Project: An Ethnographical Study of Economic Revival, Michigan (US) – Institute for Field Research

Location: Detroit, MI, US

Season: June 30, 2019 to July 28, 2019

Application Deadline: April 5, 2019

Deadline Type: Rolling

Website: https://ifrglobal.org/program/us-mi-detroit/

Program Type:
Field school

RPA Certified:
no

Affiliation:
University of Michigan, ProsperUS Detroit, Featherstone Moments, Connecticut College, Institute for Field Research

Project Director:
Dr. William Lopez, John Doering-White

Project Description:

After decades of disinvestment and white flight, the idea of Detroit as a place of opportunity is resurgent; but whose conditions are improving, and on what terms? This ethnographic field school takes entrepreneurship as a lens for understanding how low-income people of color and immigrant residents of the city have experienced and responded to uneven urban “revitalization.” Throughout July of 2019, we will undertake a collaborative ethnography in partnership with ProsperUS Detroit, an organization that offers entrepreneurship training, ongoing support, and small business loans to people who have otherwise been marginalized from formal economic and social service institutions. Students will collect oral histories, facilitate digital storytelling, and gather ethnographic data alongside ProsperUS participants and staff.  During the field school, students will live collectively and travel in teams to conduct fieldwork throughout Detroit’s neighborhoods. We will also meet with individuals and organizations across the city doing similar work. We will write up and present a program evaluation that ProsperUS and similar organizations can use to document the organization’s impact and improve future programming. Broader analysis of the data we gather will contribute to academic conversations around immigration, urban inequality, public health, and community organizing.

Project Size: 1-24 participants

Minimum Length of Stay for Volunteers: Participants must stay entire duration of the field school.

Minimum Age: 18

Experience Required: No prior experience is required to participate in this field school.

Room and Board Arrangements:
Students will live in a large Victorian house that has been remodeled to accommodate groups of 15. Breakfast and lunch will be prepared communally by the lab manager. Students will be responsible for their own dinners, which can be prepared in the house or purchased at nearby restaurants. Vegetarian and vegan meals can be provided. Cost: Room and board is included in the tuition of the field school.

Academic Credit:
8 Semester Credits credits offered by Connecticut College. Tuition is $4,060.