The city of Atlanta has long boosted itself as the city too busy to hate: a place where business and southern hospitality thrive, without the social strife associated with the rest of the region. The Sweet Auburn Curb Market is an almost-century-old municipal market located in the Old Fourth Ward, one of Atlanta’s historic inner-city neighborhoods. By taking a close look at its history, as well as the consumption practices and products associated with the space, alternate histories and stories of resistance become illuminated. Utilizing oral histories, archival research and anthropological theory to investigate the market, this thesis examines its function as a contested space within the city of Atlanta’s heralded narrative. The market’s history is delineated by time period as well as topic, focusing on its conceptualization and creation, the effects of urban renewal, and the influence of gentrification and internationalization on the space. Through this methodology, it can be seen how the Sweet Auburn Curb Market contains numerous narratives of integration within an imperiled neighborhood of a still-segregated city, as well as of a global South in a community space that remained typically relegated to a strict racial binary.
","abstract_html":"<p>The city of Atlanta has long boosted itself as the city too busy to hate: a place where business and southern hospitality thrive, without the social strife associated with the rest of the region. The Sweet Auburn Curb Market is an almost-century-old municipal market located in the Old Fourth Ward, one of Atlanta’s historic inner-city neighborhoods. By taking a close look at its history, as well as the consumption practices and products associated with the space, alternate histories and stories of resistance become illuminated. Utilizing oral histories, archival research and anthropological theory to investigate the market, this thesis examines its function as a contested space within the city of Atlanta’s heralded narrative. The market’s history is delineated by time period as well as topic, focusing on its conceptualization and creation, the effects of urban renewal, and the influence of gentrification and internationalization on the space. Through this methodology, it can be seen how the Sweet Auburn Curb Market contains numerous narratives of integration within an imperiled neighborhood of a still-segregated city, as well as of a global South in a community space that remained typically relegated to a strict racial binary.</p>","abstract_has_math":false,"creators":["King, Katie Carter"],"institution":null,"degree_name":"M.A. in Southern Studies","degree_level":"Thesis","degree_discipline":"Southern Studies","degree_department":null,"school":null,"contributors":["Andy Harper","Catarina Passidomo Townes","Barbara Combs"],"advisors":[],"committee_chairs":[],"committee_members":[],"year":2015,"date_issued":"2015-01-01T08:00:00Z","date_published":"2015-01-01T08:00:00Z","updated_at":"2026-07-24T03:06:30Z","subjects":["Atlanta","Contested Space","Municipal Market","Old Fourth Ward","Social and Cultural Anthropology"],"languages":[],"rights":[],"rights_urls":[],"identifier_entries":[]},"links":{"outbound_url":"https://egrove.olemiss.edu/etd/1227","outbound_label":"Repository record","outbound_source":"dc:identifier"},"metadata_groups":[{"id":"people","label":"People","entries":[{"key":"dc:contributor","label":"Contributor","values":["Andy Harper","Catarina Passidomo Townes","Barbara Combs"]},{"key":"dc:creator","label":"Author","values":["King, Katie Carter"]}]},{"id":"academic_context","label":"Academic Context","entries":[{"key":"dc:date.available","label":"Dc Date Available","values":["2019-07-19T07:00:00Z"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_discipline","label":"Discipline","values":["Southern Studies"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_level","label":"Degree Level","values":["Thesis"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_name","label":"Degree Name","values":["M.A. in Southern Studies"]}]},{"id":"subjects_keywords","label":"Subjects and Keywords","entries":[{"key":"dc:subject","label":"Dc Subject","values":["Atlanta","Contested Space","Municipal Market","Old Fourth Ward","Social and Cultural Anthropology"]}]},{"id":"identifiers","label":"Identifiers","entries":[{"key":"dc:identifier","label":"Identifier","values":["https://egrove.olemiss.edu/etd/1227"]}]},{"id":"additional","label":"Additional Metadata","entries":[{"key":"dc:description.abstract","label":"Abstract","values":["The city of Atlanta has long boosted itself as the city too busy to hate: a place where business and southern hospitality thrive, without the social strife associated with the rest of the region. The Sweet Auburn Curb Market is an almost-century-old municipal market located in the Old Fourth Ward, one of Atlanta’s historic inner-city neighborhoods. By taking a close look at its history, as well as the consumption practices and products associated with the space, alternate histories and stories of resistance become illuminated. Utilizing oral histories, archival research and anthropological theory to investigate the market, this thesis examines its function as a contested space within the city of Atlanta’s heralded narrative. The market’s history is delineated by time period as well as topic, focusing on its conceptualization and creation, the effects of urban renewal, and the influence of gentrification and internationalization on the space. Through this methodology, it can be seen how the Sweet Auburn Curb Market contains numerous narratives of integration within an imperiled neighborhood of a still-segregated city, as well as of a global South in a community space that remained typically relegated to a strict racial binary.
"]},{"key":"dc:title","label":"Title","values":["The Sweet Auburn Curb Market: The Search For Contested Space in the City Too Busy to hate"]}]}],"canonical_facts":{"dc:contributor":["Andy Harper","Catarina Passidomo Townes","Barbara Combs"],"dc:creator":["King, Katie Carter"],"dc:date.available":["2019-07-19T07:00:00Z"],"dc:description.abstract":["The city of Atlanta has long boosted itself as the city too busy to hate: a place where business and southern hospitality thrive, without the social strife associated with the rest of the region. The Sweet Auburn Curb Market is an almost-century-old municipal market located in the Old Fourth Ward, one of Atlanta’s historic inner-city neighborhoods. By taking a close look at its history, as well as the consumption practices and products associated with the space, alternate histories and stories of resistance become illuminated. Utilizing oral histories, archival research and anthropological theory to investigate the market, this thesis examines its function as a contested space within the city of Atlanta’s heralded narrative. The market’s history is delineated by time period as well as topic, focusing on its conceptualization and creation, the effects of urban renewal, and the influence of gentrification and internationalization on the space. Through this methodology, it can be seen how the Sweet Auburn Curb Market contains numerous narratives of integration within an imperiled neighborhood of a still-segregated city, as well as of a global South in a community space that remained typically relegated to a strict racial binary.
"],"dc:identifier":["https://egrove.olemiss.edu/etd/1227"],"dc:subject":["Atlanta","Contested Space","Municipal Market","Old Fourth Ward","Social and Cultural Anthropology"],"dc:title":["The Sweet Auburn Curb Market: The Search For Contested Space in the City Too Busy to hate"],"thesis:degree_discipline":["Southern Studies"],"thesis:degree_level":["Thesis"],"thesis:degree_name":["M.A. in Southern Studies"]},"updated_at":"2026-07-24T03:06:30Z"}