Japonica Brown-Saracino

Associate Professor of Sociology, Boston University

Japonica Brown-Saracino is an ethnographer who specializes in urban and community sociology, cultural sociology, and the study of race, ethnicity and sexuality. In 2004, City and Community published her article, “Social Preservationists and the Quest for Authentic Community,” which draws on her study of four gentrifying communities in New England and Chicago and introduces her concept of “social preservation.” She further explores these topics in her book,[ A Neighborhood That Never Changes: Gentrification, Social Preservation, and the Search for Authenticity](http://press.uchicago.edu/ucp/books/book/chicago/N/bo8066321.html ""), which received the 2010-2011 Urban Affairs Association Best Book Award. She serves on the Boston University Initiative on Cities’ advisory board.