Detroit is an essential city for understanding modern America. The city presents the pitfalls of overemphasis on neoliberal policy as well as the racialized development of a sprawling region. In turn, it also represents the countless ways in which a disenfranchised population can make a way out of no way. In Detroit’s case that means dealing with waves of industry and retail loss, mass population flight, unnamed austerity and legal bankruptcy, and the constant of being shown shiny solutions when you’ve already made one.
The Institute for Detroit Studies (IDS) brought together Detroit knowledge producers since 2001 with a focus on those critically examining the changing city while also elevating the voices and perspectives of Detroiters’ lived experiences in the city. Since 2001, IDS hosted 53 “Defining Detroit” lectures and maintained a 217 page bibliography of scholarship on Detroit.
FOUNDERS
IDS was established during the celebration of the city’s 2001 tricentennial to promote interdisciplinary study of the city of Detroit.
Members included:
- Mary E. Byrnes (sociology),
- Pao-yu Chou (economics),
- Rose E. DeSloover (art),
- Ellen Duncan (music),
- Mary Lou Greene (art),
- Jane Hammang-Buhl (business),
- Barbara A. Johns, IHM (English),
- Thomas A. Klug (history),
- Frank D. Rashid (English), and
- Dena Scher (psychology)
Detroit Studies 