JACOB LEDERMAN

Department of Sociology, Anthropology, and Criminal Justice

University of Michigan-Flint
303 East Kearsley Street
Flint, MI 48502
[email protected]

ACADEMIC APPOINTMENTS

Associate professor of sociology, University of Michigan-Flint (2021 - present)

Assistant professor of sociology, University of Michigan-Flint (2015 - 2021)

EDUCATION

PhD, Sociology, The Graduate Center, City University of New York, 2015

BA, Economics, New York University, magna cum laude with honors, 2004

AREAS OF EXPERTISE

Urban sociology, development & globalization, political economy, sociology of culture

BOOKS

2020. Chasing World-Class Urbanism: Global Policy versus Everyday Survival in Buenos Aires (University of
Minnesota Press)

Reviews
American Journal of Sociology (2021)
City and Community (2021)
EURE - Revista de Estudios Urbano Regionales (2021)

PEER REVIEWED JOURNAL ARTICLES

2019. “The People’s Plan?: Participation and Post-politics in Flint’s Master Planning Process.” Critical
Sociology Vol. 45, no. 1, pp. 85-101

2017. “Criminals in Our Midst: Middle-Class Reactions toward Representations of the ‘Ordinary’ in a Buenos
Aires Shantytown.” Latin American Perspectives Vol. 44, no. 3, pp. 135-157

2015. “Urban Fads and Consensual Fictions: Creative, Sustainable, and Competitive City Policies in Buenos
Aires.” City and Community, Vol. 14, no. 1, pp. 47-67

2013. “‘But this is a park!’ The Paradox of Public Space in a Buenos Aires ‘No-Man’s’ Land.” Citizenship
Studies, Vol. 17, no. 1, pp. 16-30

BOOK CHAPTERS

2021. “Technocracy and Populism: Remaking Urban Governance in Post-Democratic Flint,” in Terressa Benz
and Graham Cassano (eds.), Geographies of Neoliberal Indifference: Environmental Racism in Flint and Beyond
(Brill).

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2016. “Of Artisans, Antique Dealers and Ambulant Vendors: Culturally Stratified Conflicts in Buenos Aires’
Historic Center”, in Claire Colomb and Johannes Novy (eds.), Protest and Resistance in the Tourist City
(Routledge/Taylor and Francis).

Book Reviews

2021. “The Ambivalent State: Police-Criminal Collusion at the Urban Margins,” by Javier Auyero and
Katherine Sobering, Contemporary Sociology

2020. “Puerto Madero in Motion,” by Guillermo Jajamovich, International Journal of Urban and Regional
Research, Vol. 44, no. 1, p. 181.

2019. “Sites Unseen: Uncovering Hidden Hazards in American Cities,” by Scott Frickel and James R. Elliott,
City and Community, Vol. 18: pp. 737-739

2017. “Limits to Globalization: Disruptive Geographies of Capitalist Development,” by Eric Sheppard,

Contemporary Sociology, Vol. 47, no. 1, pp. 110-112

2013. “Culture Works: Space, Value, and Mobility Across the Neoliberal Americas,” by Arlene Dávila,
Critical Reviews on Latin American Research, Vol. 4, pp. 73-75

2013. “Argentina’s Economic Growth and Recovery: The Economy in a Time of Default,” by Michael Cohen,
Review of Political Economy, Vol. 25, no. 2, pp. 363-366

2012. “The Invention of Brownstone Brooklyn,” by Suleiman Osman, Sociological Forum, Vol. 27, no. 4, pp.
1048-1051

Encyclopedia Publications

2011. “Urban Space.” Concise Encyclopedia of Sociology. London: Wiley-Blackwell.

Other Publications/Media

2017: “Flint’s Development Dilemma.” Sectors Newsletter for the Sociology of Development Section of the
American Sociological Association.

2016: Media interview, KALW 91.7, San Francisco Public Radio, Your Call: The root causes of the Flint
water crisis.

2016: Media interview, KPFA 94.1, Berkeley, The living Room, Flint R Us!

2016. “Flint’s Water Crisis is no Accident.” In these Times, http://inthesetimes.com/article/18794

2014. “PR Problems for the Power Elite: Rethinking the 2008 Financial Crisis and the Rise of Right-Wing
Nationalism with C. Wright Mills.” Berkeley Journal of Sociology.

CONFERENCE PRESENTATIONS

“Planning for Sustainability in Buenos Aires: Transnational NGOs and Expert Knowledge
Circulation in Buenos Aires.” American Sociological Association, New York, NY, August 2019

“The People’s Plan?: Participation and Post-politics in Flint’s Master Planning Process.” When Cities Won’t

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Grow: Policy Implications of Post-Growth Urbanization, International Workshop, Detroit, MI, April 2019

“Chasing World-Class Urbanism: Transnational NGOs and Expert Knowledge in Buenos Aires.” Comparative
Urbanism Conference, Georgia State University, Atlanta, March 2019

“Chasing World-Class Urbanism in Buenos Aires: Global Paradigms and International NGOs.” American
Sociological Association, Section on Development, Detroit, October 2017

“Greenlining the Rustbelt: Participatory Politics and Non-Profit Governance in Flint and Detroit’s Master
Plans.” American Sociological Association, Seattle, August 2016

“Papering over Differences: Civic and Market Visions of Buenos Aires’ ‘New’ Downtown.” (Presenter and
organizer [with Catalina Ortiz] of “Translocal exchange platforms: Urban policy innovation networks and
infrastructures”), Latin American Studies Association, New York, May 2016

“Distinction and Urban Redevelopment in Buenos Aires: Understanding Culture as Resource in Urban
Restructuring.” American Sociological Association, Chicago, August 2015

“X City: (Neoliberal, Global, Participatory, Creative, Etc.): Battles of Ideas and Sites of Experimentation in
Buenos Aires, 1989-2014.” Latin American Studies Association, San Juan, May 2015 (with Ryan Centner)
“Turning to Culture in Times of Crisis: The Production of Artisanal Value in a Buenos Aires Tourist
Landscape.” American Sociological Association Annual Meeting, New York, August 2013

“‘But this is a park!’: The Paradox of Public Space in a Buenos Aires ‘No-Man’s’ Land.” International
Sociological Association Annual Meeting. Buenos Aires, Argentina, August 2012

“Redeveloping the Past: The Political Economy of Collective Memory in the Casco Histórico of Buenos
Aires.” American Sociological Association Annual Meeting. Las Vegas, August 2011

“Beyond the Gay Ghetto: Socio-Spatial Differentiation and the Contestation of Gay Identity in the Post-Fordist
City.” MIT Graduate Consortium in Women’s Studies Conference: Gender, Sexuality and Urban Spaces.
Cambridge, March 2011

“(Re)Writing Histories? The Case of Revitalization in the Casco Histórico of Buenos Aires.” Eastern
Sociological Society Annual Meeting. Boston, March 2010

Invited Talks

Moderator, University of Michigan-Ann Arbor Bicentennial Theme: Failing Flint: Lessons from the Water
Crisis, Moderator, Flint, MI, October 2017

“The People’s Plan?: Participation and Post-politics in Flint’s Master Planning Process.” Department of
Anthropology, Wayne State University, Detroit, MI, November 2016

Michigan’s Municipal Water Infrastructure: Public Policy Choices and Issues Conference, Michigan State
University, Lansing, MI, March 2016

“Chasing world-class urbanism in Buenos Aires: Global paradigms and international NGOs.” Grand Valley
State University, Grand Rapids, MI, November 2015

“De comercio, clase, y cultura: Gubernamentalidad neoliberal y estratificación ‘artesanal’ en un San Telmo en
proceso de gentrificación.” University of Buenos Aires, Gino Germani Institute, Buenos Aires, July 2013

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TEACHING EXPERIENCE

University of Michigan-Flint
Undergraduate
Introduction to Sociology
Introduction to Social Research
Special Topics: The Flint Water Crisis
Social Theory
Urban Sociology
Cities and Society
Social Inequalities
Power and Politics
Senior Seminar (Capstone)

Graduate
Social Theory

Hunter College, City University of New York (2009 – 2015)

Introduction to Sociology
Urban Sociology
Globalization and Nationalism
Race and Ethnicity
Contemporary Sociological Theory
Classical Sociological Theory

GRANTS AND AWARDS

2019 Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, Co-PI (with Daniel Birchok), “Borders and Crossings: Exploring
Global Questions at the University of Michigan-Flint” ($600,000)

2016: Research and Creative Activity Award, University of Michigan-Flint, “Participatory Urban
Democracy: Levels of Institutionalization in Master Planning Processes in Flint and Detroit” ($10,100)

2014: Graduate Center Dissertation Completion Fellowship, Graduate Center, CUNY ($25,000)

2013: Center for Place, Culture, and Politics, Dissertation Writing Fellow, Graduate Center, City
University of New York ($10,000)

2013: RC21-IJURR Summer School, Berlin, Germany (two-week workshop on qualitative and qualitative
urban research methods)

2012-2013: Writing Across the Curriculum Fellow, City College, City University of New York

2010: Kathryn Davis Fellowship for International Peace, Middlebury College, Portuguese Language
Program

SERVICE

2021-2022: Award Committee, Excellent in Teaching award, Community and Urban Sociology Section,
American Sociological Association

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2020-2021: Award Committee, Publicly Engaged Scholar award, Community and Urban Sociology Section,
American Sociological Association

2019-present: UM-Flint Center for Gender and Sexuality Advisory Board Member

2017-2018: Strategic Planning Committee, College of Arts and Sciences, UM-Flint

2018: Award Committee, “best graduate student paper” award for Community and Urban Sociology Section,
American Sociological Association

2017: Co-Organizer (with Victoria Reyes) Section on Urban and Community Sociology roundtables,
American Sociological Association Annual Meeting, Montreal, August 2017

Peer Reviewer for:

Sociological Forum
Social Problems
Ethnography
City and Community
Urban Geography
Geography Compass
International Journal of Urban and Regional Research
Critical Sociology
Town Planning Review
Urban Studies

LANGUAGES

English (native language)

Spanish (fluency)
Portuguese (intermediate/advanced)