Undergraduate Research & Scholarships

Maya Sapienza

Designed Erasure: Mapping Infrastructure & Black Urban Life

Designed Erasure is a mapping and oral history project. The focus of this research project is to explore how race and racialization contribute to the various cycles of development, destruction, and redevelopment in West Oakland. The questions that animate this research are: what does it mean for Black people in Oakland to live through constant cycles of movement, containment, dispossession, and erasure? How can we imagine various forms of displacement and emplacement alongside the mechanisms that attempt to keep Black people in place? We will use layered historical maps to document Oakland’s planning history, and current policy on homelessness that has been generated by the city of Oakland.

Message To Sponsor

Thank you so much for granting me this opportunity to continue with research with Dr. Brandi Summer, I am incredibly honored and humbled to receive URAP Summer Award for 2022. I love the research I am conducting and the time I spend with Dr. Summer T. Summers is invaluable to me. It means the world to me that Dr. Brandi Summers trusts in me to continue this research journey. I’m thrilled to be able to continue researching this summer. Thank you so much for everything!