Langugae SWITCH
Dr. Olga Supek, croatian ethnologist and cultural anthropologist, virtually presented her book „Summer in Detroit: research of an urban neighborhood from the perspective of economic anthropology“ on March 31, 2021. Project associates Dr. Tihana Rubić (editor-in-chief) and Dr. Jasna Čapo took part in the presentation, along with Dr. Sanja Potkonjak and Dr. Ljiljana Marks.
The research was carried out in summer 1975 during Supek’s postgraduate study in the USA, as part of the reserach project on irregular economy and unempoloyment. However, the manuscript has not been published until 2020! The book illustrates and problematizes the society of industrial capitalism, deindustrialization, the collapse of mass industrial production of late industrialism, as well as the first effects of the economic crisis and deprivation in the city’s automobile industry. The beginnings of the city’s economic decline were evident already in the 1970s, at a time when the research was taking place. Detroit developed rapidly in the 19th and in the first half of the 20th century, only to begin to stagnate and decay after the Great Oil Crisis in the early 1970s. It was the leading industrial city in the United States, but it depended entirely on the automobile industry. This “industrial monoculture” led to the city’s downfall. This study reflects a strong research sensitivity to different cultural and social contexts, different research traditions, experiences, and strongholds, which the author interrogates and brings into a comparative problematic relationship. It encourages today’s research of urban spatial and social transformations and perceptions of urban developments and futures.
