{"id":{"repo_id":"gmu","oai_identifier":"oai:MARS:1920/15183"},"canonical_url":"https://search.dev.ndltd.org/etd/gmu/oai:MARS:1920/15183","repository":{"repo_id":"gmu","name":"George Mason University","base_url":"https://mars.gmu.edu/server/oai/request"},"display":{"title":"From Spatial Trauma to Spatial Resistances: Reimagining Futures in Baltimore","abstract":"Spatial imaginaries shape and give meaning to place, impacting the way spaces are represented, resourced and reinforced with symbolic and material power dynamics. Race and space have a dual relationship for social movements focused on racial justice. Spatial racism disenfranchises low-income minority communities through redlining, gentrification and urban renewal, which creates the environment for premature death in many forms. Conversely, space can also serve as a tool to build liberatory spatial imaginaries focused on community resilience. This research combines mixed research methods spanning urban sociology, human geography and intersectional feminist disciplines to unpack the paradoxical relationship between race and space and its impact on the Black Lives Matter movement. I examine space as a central resource for social movements to tell the story of spatial trauma, systemic and gendered violence and the place-based particularities that enabled the emergence of the Baltimore Uprising in 2015. I use a social justice orientation of space to deconstruct the impact of violent spatial imaginaries in order to reconstruct a more nuanced understanding of the localized community-led actions that reclaim and reimagine space in Baltimore at the city, community and individual level. This dissertation is anchored in Baltimore as the field of study and seeks to argue that centering space unveils how community-based activists are utilizing spatial strategies to advance the Black Lives Matter movement in the form of every day practices of contestation.","abstract_html":"Spatial imaginaries shape and give meaning to place, impacting the way spaces are represented, resourced and reinforced with symbolic and material power dynamics. Race and space have a dual relationship for social movements focused on racial justice. Spatial racism disenfranchises low-income minority communities through redlining, gentrification and urban renewal, which creates the environment for premature death in many forms. Conversely, space can also serve as a tool to build liberatory spatial imaginaries focused on community resilience. This research combines mixed research methods spanning urban sociology, human geography and intersectional feminist disciplines to unpack the paradoxical relationship between race and space and its impact on the Black Lives Matter movement. I examine space as a central resource for social movements to tell the story of spatial trauma, systemic and gendered violence and the place-based particularities that enabled the emergence of the Baltimore Uprising in 2015. I use a social justice orientation of space to deconstruct the impact of violent spatial imaginaries in order to reconstruct a more nuanced understanding of the localized community-led actions that reclaim and reimagine space in Baltimore at the city, community and individual level. This dissertation is anchored in Baltimore as the field of study and seeks to argue that centering space unveils how community-based activists are utilizing spatial strategies to advance the Black Lives Matter movement in the form of every day practices of contestation.","abstract_has_math":false,"creators":["Samuel-Nakka, Samantha"],"institution":null,"degree_name":null,"degree_level":null,"degree_discipline":null,"degree_department":null,"school":null,"contributors":[],"advisors":[],"committee_chairs":[],"committee_members":[],"year":2025,"date_issued":"2025","date_published":"2025","updated_at":"2026-07-27T19:51:48Z","subjects":["Baltimore","Social Movements","Spatial Imaginaries","Urban Space"],"languages":[],"rights":[],"rights_urls":[],"identifier_entries":[{"key":"dc:identifier","label":"Identifier","values":["hdl:1920/15183"],"render_values":[{"text":"hdl:1920/15183","href":null,"code":true}]}]},"links":{"outbound_url":null,"outbound_label":null,"outbound_source":null},"metadata_groups":[{"id":"academic_context","label":"Academic Context","entries":[{"key":"dc:date.issued","label":"Date","values":["2025"]},{"key":"dc:type","label":"Dc Type","values":["Dissertation"]}]},{"id":"subjects_keywords","label":"Subjects and Keywords","entries":[{"key":"dc:subject","label":"Dc Subject","values":["Baltimore","Social Movements","Spatial Imaginaries","Urban Space"]}]},{"id":"identifiers","label":"Identifiers","entries":[{"key":"dc:identifier","label":"Identifier","values":["hdl:1920/15183"]}]},{"id":"additional","label":"Additional Metadata","entries":[{"key":"dc:description.other","label":"Dc Description Other","values":["Spatial imaginaries shape and give meaning to place, impacting the way spaces are represented, resourced and reinforced with symbolic and material power dynamics. Race and space have a dual relationship for social movements focused on racial justice. Spatial racism disenfranchises low-income minority communities through redlining, gentrification and urban renewal, which creates the environment for premature death in many forms. Conversely, space can also serve as a tool to build liberatory spatial imaginaries focused on community resilience. This research combines mixed research methods spanning urban sociology, human geography and intersectional feminist disciplines to unpack the paradoxical relationship between race and space and its impact on the Black Lives Matter movement. I examine space as a central resource for social movements to tell the story of spatial trauma, systemic and gendered violence and the place-based particularities that enabled the emergence of the Baltimore Uprising in 2015. I use a social justice orientation of space to deconstruct the impact of violent spatial imaginaries in order to reconstruct a more nuanced understanding of the localized community-led actions that reclaim and reimagine space in Baltimore at the city, community and individual level. This dissertation is anchored in Baltimore as the field of study and seeks to argue that centering space unveils how community-based activists are utilizing spatial strategies to advance the Black Lives Matter movement in the form of every day practices of contestation."]},{"key":"dc:title","label":"Title","values":["From Spatial Trauma to Spatial Resistances: Reimagining Futures in Baltimore"]}]}],"canonical_facts":{"dc:date.issued":["2025"],"dc:description.other":["Spatial imaginaries shape and give meaning to place, impacting the way spaces are represented, resourced and reinforced with symbolic and material power dynamics. Race and space have a dual relationship for social movements focused on racial justice. Spatial racism disenfranchises low-income minority communities through redlining, gentrification and urban renewal, which creates the environment for premature death in many forms. Conversely, space can also serve as a tool to build liberatory spatial imaginaries focused on community resilience. This research combines mixed research methods spanning urban sociology, human geography and intersectional feminist disciplines to unpack the paradoxical relationship between race and space and its impact on the Black Lives Matter movement. I examine space as a central resource for social movements to tell the story of spatial trauma, systemic and gendered violence and the place-based particularities that enabled the emergence of the Baltimore Uprising in 2015. I use a social justice orientation of space to deconstruct the impact of violent spatial imaginaries in order to reconstruct a more nuanced understanding of the localized community-led actions that reclaim and reimagine space in Baltimore at the city, community and individual level. This dissertation is anchored in Baltimore as the field of study and seeks to argue that centering space unveils how community-based activists are utilizing spatial strategies to advance the Black Lives Matter movement in the form of every day practices of contestation."],"dc:identifier":["hdl:1920/15183"],"dc:subject":["Baltimore","Social Movements","Spatial Imaginaries","Urban Space"],"dc:title":["From Spatial Trauma to Spatial Resistances: Reimagining Futures in Baltimore"],"dc:type":["Dissertation"]},"updated_at":"2026-07-27T19:51:48Z"}