Ahmedabad is the largest city and former capital of the Indian state of Gujarat and was first established by Sultan Ahmed Shah, in 1411 A.D. About seven million people live in the city and the population is expected to grow to ten million by 2030 . Ahmedabad is located on the banks of the Sabarmati River. The river is located in the middle of the city and divides it into east and west regions. The British colonial period saw the expansion of the city to the western side, which houses educational institutes, modern buildings, multiplexes and a new business district. The eastern side is home to the Old City and is also where Ahmedabad’s famous textile industry was developed. Since the factories have been closing down in recent years, people are working any job they can find to support themselves and their families. While the majority of the population is Hindu, there are also Muslim and Jain communities. We have learned that tension exists between the Muslim and Hindu community, causing Muslims to be discriminated against and face a myriad of disadvantages. In 2002, a train in Godhra was set on fire and 58 Hindus were killed, triggering riots between the Hindu and Muslim communities. An estimated 2,000 Muslims were killed and thus many Muslim families were dislocated to the western region.

We also learned that the caste system still affects Indian society to this day. At the top of the hierarchy are the Brahman. They are traditionally seen as godly people who have reached their status through actions in their past lives that have made them worthy. Below them are the Kshatriya, who are traditionally seen as the warriors. Then there there are the Vaishya, or businessmen and the Shudra, the serving class. The largest group, the Dalits, are not included in this pyramidal structure because they are seen as untouchables. In our site visits and through our guest lecturers, we have seen that the Dalits are truly the most disadvantaged group as a result of their caste status. They are the street sweepers, animal skinners and sanitation workers in Indian society. Although the government has affirmative action in place for people in the lowest caste, much of this money never reaches them.

As we continue to learn about Indian society and the city of Ahmedabad we hope to dig deeper into the repercussions of the city’s geographical divide, tensions between Hindus and Muslims and the caste system.

Alex Perez ’17 and Eli Valenzuela ’17

Another dividing issue in New York City is labor. As in cities across the U.S., many groups in the five boroughs are involved in the Fight for 15, or the effort to raise the minimum wage to $15. Eli visited DRUM, an organization that advocates for low-wage South Asian immigrant workers and youth. With a membership of 3,000 – including 900 youth – representing countries that include Pakistan, Bangladesh, India and Nepal, DRUM has empowered workers through its campaigns and educational efforts. It has not only been involved in the Fight for 15 but has advocated for undocumented workers who make as little as $3-4 an hour. Although these workers are often scared to speak out for fear of deportation, DRUM has given them a place to unite and learn about their rights and resources. DRUM has also been involved in successful campaigns. When the NYC Police Department planned to map Muslim businesses, DRUM collaborated with other organizations to stop this destructive initiative. Shahina Parveen, a leader of DRUM, said: “When our own government, our own police, our own institutions, and our own media continue to engage in racial profiling or painting our communities as suspect, we cannot expect the results to be any different than these tragic cases of racial violence.” This effort, and others like it, are important because they defend the South Asian immigrant community in New York City from injustices.

Alex visited the Street Vendor Project. This non-profit organization assist street vendors with applying or renewing their license and educating them about their legal rights and responsibilities. They also hold meetings to plan collectively for any action they choose to make. There are more than 10,000 street vendors in New York City and about 2,000 joined the membership-based project in order to create a vendors’ movement for permanent change. Street vendors are being harassed by the police department and there is even a special unit just for police to stop unlicensed street vendors and arrest them. Many of these vendors are immigrants and people of color selling in the streets year round as their only source of income. The organization’s focus is to build some power for street vendors. In 2010, there was a big win for street vendors as minor fines, such as selling too close to the street, were lowered to a maximum of $250 after Mayor Bloomberg’s administration raised the fines to a maximum of $1,000 per ticket. Street vendors and the Street Vendor Project took it to city council and have been having multiple meetings with council members and community board members to protect the rights of street vendors. Private businesses and future development projects have no interest in having street vendors in their property and that has limited the space of where vendors can station themselves throughout the city.
As we begin our travels to Ahmedabad, India, we are interested to learn about the issues this city faces and how they compare to NYC.

Alex Perez ’17 and Elizabeth (Eli) Valenzuela ’17

This week’s focus is on housing in New York City. On Wednesday we visited the New York City Housing Authority, or NYCHA, and discussed the issues surrounding the affordable housing crisis happening throughout the five boroughs. Zoning regulations are being changed and allowing high rise luxury building to be developed in low-income neighborhoods. Apartments are being renovated and rented out for triple the amount it used to be. Rent prices are skyrocketing and many residents are being forced to move out of their neighborhoods because they can no longer afford to live there. One problem is that many of the buildings that still offer affordable housing are aging and are usually not well maintained. NYCHA is beginning a new initiative called NextGen, through which they hope to implement strategies that improve their organization as well as their residents’ daily lives. Their tenant empowerment strategies are especially interesting. For example, they will work to connect residents to quality workforce opportunities by increasing its partnerships job placement programs and creating its own focused on teaching its residents new trades. Their goal is connect up to 4,000 residents to jobs annually by 2025.
After the NYCHA visit, the students split into smaller groups and visited organizations that advocate and help residents living in affordable housing units in different neighborhoods. We visited a non-profit organization in the southside of Williamsburg, Brooklyn called Los Sures. This organization was founded in the 1970s when the housing market crashed. They advocate for and develop affordable housing in the neighborhood. They also educate residents concerning their rights as renters and assist them with issues they encounter. This has become especially important recently since more and more tenants are facing harassment from landlords. Our speaker Chelsea shared that landlords in Williamsburg have gone as far as to shut off tenants’ gas and electricity in order to intimidate them into leaving their building, only to renovate and hike up the price of their apartment soon after their departure. Los Sures empowers residents to unite through tenant associations and assists them in the process of taking their case to Housing Court through their partnership with the Brooklyn Legal Association.

Eli Valenzuela ’17 and Alex Perez ’17

We are Eli and Alex, juniors studying abroad through the International Honors Program: Cities in the 21st Century. As Urban Studies students, we chose this program because of its focus on the people, planning and politics of cities around the world, including New York, Ahmedabad, São Paulo and Cape Town. During our first week, we learned that one of the program’s core values is social justice. As we travel this semester, we will not only learn about the cities’ problems but also explore possible solutions. We will have multiple guest speakers throughout the program who will give us insight on the historical context and current issues of the cities. Finally, we will take four classes that will give us a well rounded view of each city as well as comparative lenses. They are: Urban Politics and Development, Culture and Society of World Cities, Contemporary Urban Issues, and Urban Planning and Sustainable Environments.

Throughout the semester we will have “Neighborhood Days.” We get paired up with different people in the group of thirty to explore a neighborhood and learn about its culture as well as the changes it has undergone over time. We also speak to an organization that works inside the community to get an understanding of what is going on. The next day, the groups present what they learned about their specific neighborhood. This past Thursday we had our first one here in New York City. Alex’s neighborhood was in Southwest Brooklyn along the waterfront where he observed the industrial development of New York and how that area is still being preserved as an industrial site. The residents in the neighborhood are predominantly working-class and depend on the industrial businesses as a source for jobs. The neighborhood is known for being a “walk to work” area because the industrial businesses hire local residents and assist them in getting jobs where they can gain skills that will help them in terms of mobility. Eli’s neighborhood was Port Richmond, Staten Island. While exploring this neighborhood, she and her group learned that it is predominantly populated by Mexican immigrants as well as African Americans. This could be gleaned from the businesses and services offered. They visited Make the Road, an organization that works with immigrant communities to achieve survival services such as adult literacy, citizenship and wage protection. There, they spoke to an Ecuadorian woman who had faced many hardships while living in the States but had found solace in the community she found in Staten Island. It was interesting to learn that the streets of Port Richmond were once lively but rumors of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) raids kept many in their homes for fear of harassment and deportation. Learning about Port Richmond was interesting to Eli because as a New Yorker, she had always viewed Staten Island as a predominantly white and affluent borough but speaking to this neighborhood’s people and learning about its challenges made her see it in a new light.

Elizabeth (Eli) Valenzuela ’17 and Alex Perez ’17