Detroit Never Left

Black Space, White Borders, Latino Crossings

Nicole E. Trujillo-Pagán

• Publisher: NYU Press
• Year: 2026
• Print ISBN:
  9781479826810
• eBook ISBN:
  9781479826827
• Topic: Social Sciences
• Subtopic: Hispanic American Studies
• Index: Social Sciences

A new perspective on the relationship between race and space in Detroit

Detroit seemed to experience an explosive rebirth following its bankruptcy, the largest in US municipal history. It was as if the slate had been wiped clean and the color line erased in the nation's largest Black city. Detroit Never Left explains the relation between racism and space by analyzing the ways opportunities changed in the years leading up to and following bankruptcy.

Based on a variety of data, including in-depth interviews with people who identify as "Latina/o/x" in their early 20s, ethnographic observation, and media coverage, Nicole E. Trujillo-Pagán shows how a dialectic between empty and concrete abstractions created new opportunities for outside investment, often at the expense of residents' fortunes. She reveals space is much more than a neutral backdrop; It is continually produced through abstractions that act like bordering and crossing practices to control resources and opportunities. With broad implications for analyses of space and opportunity, Detroit Never Left tackles important contradictions in the post-bankruptcy city. For example, urban youth do not want to be moved out or isolated in their barrio. Similarly, many Detroiters feel spatial changes happen "to," instead of "for" them. Ultimately, residents' concerns underscored broader tensions between democratic inclusion and racialized capitalism.

Table of contents

• Cover
• Series Page
• Title Page
• Copyright
• Contents
• List of Figures and Tables
• Introduction: If Detroit Could Talk
• 1. This Bridge Called My ’Hood: Latina/o/x Experience and Southwest Detroit
• 2. Producing Neighborhoods: From Redlining to Diversity
• 3. “Where You From?” Property Claims as Abstractions
• 4. Big Data, Big Money: Gerrymandering, Bankruptcy, and Demolition
• 5. Affirmative Action or Reverse Racism? The African Town Proposal
• 6. Public-Private Partnerships: Regime Change and “Some New Form of Management”
• Conclusion: Getting Past the Overlay to the Underplay
• Acknowledgments
• Appendix I: Bordering Practices
• Appendix II: Methods
• Appendix III: An Example of How a Street Sign Is an Abstraction
• Notes
• Bibliography
• Index
• About the Author