The Department of Enterprise Services, in partnership with Humanities Washington, is proud to present the next session in the DEI Speaker Series: "Diamonds in the Rough: The Gentrification of Rural Washington" with Jennifer Sherman will take place Wednesday, Oct. 20, from noon to 1 p.m.

Description

Washington’s rural communities are rapidly changing. Formerly reliant on working-class industries like mining, oil and agriculture, an influx of wealthy urbanites is looking for a different kind of experience that includes natural amenities, outdoor recreation and cultural activities. But in doing so, these newcomers are causing new inequalities.

Join Jennifer Sherman, professor of sociology, to discuss both the glaring and the hidden effects of rural gentrification. Through the lens of a rural Washington community, Sherman explains how "class blindness” protects those with more privilege from fully recognizing social class inequalities. She advocates for the importance of getting to know the neighbors who are least like us so that we can minimize destructive social divides together.

About the speaker

Jennifer Sherman (she/her) is a professor of sociology at Washington State University. Her qualitative research focuses on poverty and inequality, mainly in the rural Northwest. She is the author of two books, the most recent of which is titled "Dividing Paradise: Rural Inequality and the Diminishing American Dream" (2021), and she is the coeditor of the 2017 volume, "Rural Poverty in the United States."

Sherman lives in Moscow, Idaho.