America’s population is aging, and so is our housing infrastructure. What can racial histories of homeownership and the way cities and towns have maintained their municipal infrastructure tell us about whether Americans, particularly women and underrepresented groups, can age in place? Davy Knittle, assistant professor of English and 2025 recipient of the Mae and Robert Carter Faculty Research Award, examines the question as the speaker at this year’s Carter Series Lecture on Tuesday, April 28 at 4 p.m. in Trabant Theater.
Knittle rethinks aging in place to frame it as a municipal problem, not a private one. Pairing archival research on municipal and mutual aid programs for older homeowners with an analysis on two literary texts, he will trace how the effects of 20th century histories of racial housing inequality are intensified in the lives of homeowning older adults and will consider the way many older adults respond by reimagining the contexts in which they stay in their homes.