The Daily Bulletin Archive

Ethnographer, sociologist, and author Elijah Andersondiscussed his own life story as well as the findings of the research he has conducted in urban neighborhoods for more than three decades in a moving talk at Buffalo State on Friday, October 17. His presentation was part of the 56th annual New York State Sociological Association Conference (NYSSA), held on campus last week.

Anderson spent his childhood in a shack by the Mississippi River until his family joined the African American migration northward to industrial urban centers during World War II. After his father started working in a factory job, he described how his life changed.

“My father bought a new car every year,” said Anderson. “He had just a fourth-grade education, but when we moved to South Bend, he was able to get a good-paying job.” Anderson said that those jobs have been shipped overseas, and one result is “structural poverty,” which he identified as a major reason for the violence in America’s cities today.

Anderson told the audience of about 200 people that he is among those who believe that restoring America’s cities will require an effort akin to the Marshall Plan, which helped to rebuild Europe after World War II. He received a standing ovation from the audience.

Anderson is the William K. Lanman Jr. Professor of Sociology at Yale University. He has written several books, including Code of the Street: Decency, Violence, and the Moral Life of the Inner City and his classic work,A Place on the Corner. He recently edited and contributed to a collection of essays, Against the Wall: Poor, Young, Black, and Male, which contains a forward by Cornel West, who is scheduled to speak on campus on November 6.