While reading the middle half of Root Shock, it was quite surprising to realize the dramatic effects urban displacement can have on people. Dr. Fullilove discusses the history of urban replacement on communities and how people struggled in order to survive urban replacement. The author discusses how people were torn away from their communities due to urbanization of “insignificant” communities. What I found interesting to notice was that the author pointed out how the sense of closeness amongst former neighbors was essentially gone. It would seem that in rough times, like urban renewal, people would in a sense try to stick together and help one another get through the struggle. It is understandable that after urbanization people would not be so closely tied with each other because of the distance separating them. However, one would think that people would try to maintain a sense of family despite the distances separating them. The whole shift of community is very radical due to urban renewal. Before urban renewal, all the neighbors were very much intertwined in each other’s lives, but afterward it was as if a partition was built that forever separated former neighbors from each other.

My question would be, despite the effects of urban renewal why didn’t former neighbors maintain contact with each other? People do maintain contact with each other in spite of long distances between them…

I thought it was especially interesting how Fullilove alluded to the Butterfly Effect, or the idea that one small change can impact the entire world.  As she writes: “the flapping wings of a butterfly in Beijing could affect the weather in New York” (17).  We often don’t think of how something that seems so insignificant can have drastic effects.  By the same token, an event like moving a Brooklyn based stadium where victories, memories, and a sense of community thrived to Los Angeles has staggering repercussions.  But Fullilove also dissects how issues like a smoking ban can trigger flash mobs, even if there is not a direct link between the two.  When considering these minute changes combined with the sense of culture lost after displacement, I oddly couldn’t help but think of the Harlem Shake videos.  This may be a strange comparison, but I remember watching of video of Harlem residents reacting to the Harlem Shake videos, and many were downright offended at the misrepresentation of the dance.  If culture is so easily transformed and borrowed, it puts int o perspective how simple it is to transform a neighborhood.  I would imagine even these subtle instances, of stealing a habit or norm from a community could be greatly upsetting to those who experienced and created it.

Harlem Reacts to ‘Harlem Shake’ Videos

Did anyone else think of less drastic cultural impacts while reading?

-Jacqui Larsen

According to Fullilove, root shock is the traumatic stress reaction to the destruction of all or part of one’s emotional ecosystem. Socially, it can destroy language, culture, dietary traditions, and social relationships, undermine trust, and various resources. Physiologically, it can increase anxiety, and increases the risk for every kind of stress-related disease from depression to heart attack. It will be interesting to see how public health can be linked to a social movement, and what effect displacement can have on the health of a population.

In the second chapter, the author explores the Montgomery bus boycott and mentions that the boycott was effective in “changing people’s state of being” and fewer injuries related to anger were reported in hospitals. While I always considered the social implications of segregation and racism, I never truly pondered the public health implications of those social policies. What were the effects of such policies on public health? Were statistics and studies on disease also segregated?

Before I even opened the book, I realized that I wasn’t quite sure what root shock meant. At first, I assumed it was a term fabricated for this book, but I figured I should Google it to be safe. To my surprise, 8 of 10 links sent me to this book, but 2 offered me a definition. Up to this point we all know what it means, so I wont get hung up on that, but what I found most interesting is that the first source I found cited Hurricane Sandy as the most recent occurrence of root shock, the second being the Japanese Tsunami last year. This bit of research combined with the elegant definition and “injury” metaphor provided by Fullilove hit it home for me.

I hate to say it, but I dont think I have ever experienced root shock. How easily comparable is it to emotion trauma? I guess Ive had “my world turned upside-down,” but never my literal world.

I really enjoyed learning about root shock especially since the term is new to me. I think sometimes people undermine how valuable the area we live in is. When reading the beginning of the book it made me realize how people take their current lifestyle for granted and how we’re lucky to have a roof over our heads. What neighborhood you live could really change the way you see the world because it’s through what you experience in that neighborhood that makes you who you are. While reading this, it reminded me of the recent natural disasters that happening in New York. It saddened me to think about how some people I were close probably experienced root shock when their houses were taken down by Hurricane Sandy. To think one day you’re living comfortably in your house and then the next for it to be completely torn down must be so horrifying. Without good mental health, one can’t really have physical health either. When reading Root Shock, it saddened me how some people in the past couldn’t live their daily lives without experiencing root shoot on a basis. The black community for example was traumatized by racist practices everyday. It makes me glad that our society had advanced beyond that to an extent. Not only did they have to deal with regular stress of everyday life but outsiders had to add stress to them too. Has there ever been a time where you experienced root shock?