This blog is about my conscious commitment to place and location, and for a reformed nomad like myself, that commitment requires effort. Part of that effort has been reading up on the area, including Ann Arbor, Detroit, the Detroit suburbs, and
Michigan in general. I’ve read a few books so far, the most recent of which is Getting Ghost.
Getting Ghost is written by a cultural anthropologist (Luke Bergmann) who follows the lives of two young Detroiters, Dude and Rodney, involved in the drug trade. Their narratives are engrossing. The author’s anthropological analysis is less so – the dissertational interludes produce a sudden, jarring distance between him and his subjects, in spite of the intimate friendships he develops with them. While reading, I liked to imagine some codgy professor behind these portions, urging Luke to make more references to the theories of Foucoult and De Certeau to lend the book academic credibility. I wanted to believe that Luke, the Luke that went out to clubs with them and drove their mothers to doctor appointments, didn’t want to break away from the intimate narratives either, but was forced or at least compelled to.
The scenes of Dude and Rodney’s lives demonstrate a locally-focused value system, with family and neighborhood at center. It reminds me that while the “right-sizing Detroit” effort is well-intentioned and may even improve Detroit for many Detroiters, the only real certainty is that it will leave large numbers of people displaced and disenfranchised, even if executed well. That’s not to say I’m against it (I don’t feel nearly well informed enough to make that call), but it gave me pause. If Detroit is right-sized and people are forced to move into new homes and new neighborhoods, I hope that either the city or some private organizations are ready to help people reconnect to their new neighbors and new surroundings.
