Carolyn Swope
@cbswope.bsky.social
PhD candidate in urban planning | researching historical and contemporary production of housing & health injustice
I'm deeply honored to have received the Founder's Prize for the best article of the year in Social Science History. It's especially meaningful because SSHA has been such a generative and welcoming community for me as the co-chair of the Historical Geography and HGIS network.
Carolyn Swope received the Founder's Prize for her article “The Spatial Configuration of Segregation, Elite Fears of Disease, and Housing Reform in Washington, D.C.’s Inhabited Alleys” published in SSH 48(2). shorturl.at/eVz4A Congratulations! #sociology #history #segregation #housing #epidemiology
shorturl.at
November 24, 2025 at 2:31 PM
I'm deeply honored to have received the Founder's Prize for the best article of the year in Social Science History. It's especially meaningful because SSHA has been such a generative and welcoming community for me as the co-chair of the Historical Geography and HGIS network.
Reposted by Carolyn Swope
The US is the purple line bottoming out. Our economy may still roar, but we’re killing ourselves. Hoarding wealth, refusing to even ensure our kids have enough to eat. That line is an indictment. It reflects our warped values.
This graph never fails to be shocking: "The US has experienced the earliest and greatest slowdown in life expectancy improvements among higher-income countries, reported Eileen Crimmins. “We have horrible life expectancy—and it’s getting worse and worse”"
www.prb.org/resources/se...
www.prb.org/resources/se...
November 1, 2025 at 3:08 AM
The US is the purple line bottoming out. Our economy may still roar, but we’re killing ourselves. Hoarding wealth, refusing to even ensure our kids have enough to eat. That line is an indictment. It reflects our warped values.
What better way to start a new semester and return from maternity leave than to share a new paper with my brilliant co-authors! We examine Emergency Rental Assistance (ERA) through a critical urban theory lens
NEW JUA #ARTICLE: Emergency rental assistance under COVID capitalism: A case study assessment of state and local rent relief programs www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.... @bhanlonurban.bsky.social
September 4, 2025 at 5:51 PM
What better way to start a new semester and return from maternity leave than to share a new paper with my brilliant co-authors! We examine Emergency Rental Assistance (ERA) through a critical urban theory lens
Reposted by Carolyn Swope
During the 1970s, an arson wave ravaged poor communities across the US. Some lost 80% of their housing. Residents were blamed.
In reality, landlords—paid by insurers and enabled by the state—drove this arson-for-profit epidemic.
I reviewed @benchansfield.bsky.social's revelatory BORN IN FLAMES:
In reality, landlords—paid by insurers and enabled by the state—drove this arson-for-profit epidemic.
I reviewed @benchansfield.bsky.social's revelatory BORN IN FLAMES:
When the Bronx Burned, Tenants Died and Landlords Got Rich
www.nytimes.com
August 20, 2025 at 11:37 AM
During the 1970s, an arson wave ravaged poor communities across the US. Some lost 80% of their housing. Residents were blamed.
In reality, landlords—paid by insurers and enabled by the state—drove this arson-for-profit epidemic.
I reviewed @benchansfield.bsky.social's revelatory BORN IN FLAMES:
In reality, landlords—paid by insurers and enabled by the state—drove this arson-for-profit epidemic.
I reviewed @benchansfield.bsky.social's revelatory BORN IN FLAMES:
Reposted by Carolyn Swope
New from me on scholarship by @cbswope.bsky.social et al.
"As the Trump Administration attempts to eviscerate fair housing...regulations...we need to recognize the persistence and resilience of racial-capitalist exploitation and dispossession, and not view it only as some relic of an earlier era."
"As the Trump Administration attempts to eviscerate fair housing...regulations...we need to recognize the persistence and resilience of racial-capitalist exploitation and dispossession, and not view it only as some relic of an earlier era."
What if the Home Owners Loan Corporation (HOLC) Redlining Maps Were Not Actually the Root Cause of So Much Modern Health (and Other) Inequality?
Seeking more complete—but still highly racialized—explanations of urban spatial inequities.
dans-newsletter-cfccf2.beehiiv.com
May 16, 2025 at 12:48 AM
New from me on scholarship by @cbswope.bsky.social et al.
"As the Trump Administration attempts to eviscerate fair housing...regulations...we need to recognize the persistence and resilience of racial-capitalist exploitation and dispossession, and not view it only as some relic of an earlier era."
"As the Trump Administration attempts to eviscerate fair housing...regulations...we need to recognize the persistence and resilience of racial-capitalist exploitation and dispossession, and not view it only as some relic of an earlier era."
Reposted by Carolyn Swope
Glad to see this piece out!
In it, we trace the explosion of HOLC redlining studies in public health research over recent years and propose that scholars widen their focus to include some of the myriad other discriminatory processes that have generated racial health inequities.
In it, we trace the explosion of HOLC redlining studies in public health research over recent years and propose that scholars widen their focus to include some of the myriad other discriminatory processes that have generated racial health inequities.
May 15, 2025 at 12:32 PM
Glad to see this piece out!
In it, we trace the explosion of HOLC redlining studies in public health research over recent years and propose that scholars widen their focus to include some of the myriad other discriminatory processes that have generated racial health inequities.
In it, we trace the explosion of HOLC redlining studies in public health research over recent years and propose that scholars widen their focus to include some of the myriad other discriminatory processes that have generated racial health inequities.
Reposted by Carolyn Swope
🧵A much-needed corrective to the “HOLC redlining was the primary/root cause of everything bad” literature that has exploded since the HOLC maps were digitized. A more complicated, but still heavily racialized story. Lots of other private and public discriminatory policies & practices involved.
Belatedly introducing a new piece on racial capitalism, redlining, causality, and public health that I was lucky enough to work on with coauthors @snmarkley.bsky.social, Shannon Whittaker, and Amy Hillier! ajph.aphapublications.org/doi/10.2105/... 1/
How and Why Does Redlining Matter for Present-Day Health? Critical Perspectives on Causality, Cartography, and Capitalism | AJPH | Vol. 115 Issue 5
Recent years have seen an explosion of public health research on associations between historical redlining maps created by a US government agency, the Home Owners’ Loan Corporation (HOLC), and present...
ajph.aphapublications.org
May 15, 2025 at 12:49 PM
🧵A much-needed corrective to the “HOLC redlining was the primary/root cause of everything bad” literature that has exploded since the HOLC maps were digitized. A more complicated, but still heavily racialized story. Lots of other private and public discriminatory policies & practices involved.
Belatedly introducing a new piece on racial capitalism, redlining, causality, and public health that I was lucky enough to work on with coauthors @snmarkley.bsky.social, Shannon Whittaker, and Amy Hillier! ajph.aphapublications.org/doi/10.2105/... 1/
How and Why Does Redlining Matter for Present-Day Health? Critical Perspectives on Causality, Cartography, and Capitalism | AJPH | Vol. 115 Issue 5
Recent years have seen an explosion of public health research on associations between historical redlining maps created by a US government agency, the Home Owners’ Loan Corporation (HOLC), and present...
ajph.aphapublications.org
May 14, 2025 at 9:19 PM
Belatedly introducing a new piece on racial capitalism, redlining, causality, and public health that I was lucky enough to work on with coauthors @snmarkley.bsky.social, Shannon Whittaker, and Amy Hillier! ajph.aphapublications.org/doi/10.2105/... 1/
Reposted by Carolyn Swope
“The issue is that Khalil and the others who have been abducted in recent weeks are being jailed because they were dissident protesters, student organizers, op-ed authors, and anti-genocide activists. In other words, they have been targeted for their political views. They are political prisoners.”
May 3, 2025 at 10:40 AM
“The issue is that Khalil and the others who have been abducted in recent weeks are being jailed because they were dissident protesters, student organizers, op-ed authors, and anti-genocide activists. In other words, they have been targeted for their political views. They are political prisoners.”
Reposted by Carolyn Swope
1. Every Dem Senator should be doing this, at minimum, for their constituents.
2. Why won't my Senators in New York do this for my fellow Columbia students incarcerated in Louisiana? It's a quicker flight.
2. Why won't my Senators in New York do this for my fellow Columbia students incarcerated in Louisiana? It's a quicker flight.
I said my main goal of this trip was to meet with Kilmar. Tonight I had that chance. I have called his wife, Jennifer, to pass along his message of love. I look forward to providing a full update upon my return.
April 18, 2025 at 1:15 AM
1. Every Dem Senator should be doing this, at minimum, for their constituents.
2. Why won't my Senators in New York do this for my fellow Columbia students incarcerated in Louisiana? It's a quicker flight.
2. Why won't my Senators in New York do this for my fellow Columbia students incarcerated in Louisiana? It's a quicker flight.
Reposted by Carolyn Swope
It is also notable that Georgetown immediately put out this statement defending their community member. Columbia still has not mentioned Mahmoud or Ranjani by name.
March 20, 2025 at 6:06 AM
It is also notable that Georgetown immediately put out this statement defending their community member. Columbia still has not mentioned Mahmoud or Ranjani by name.
Reposted by Carolyn Swope
SWC stands by Ranjani Srinivasan, yet another union member targeted by the Trump administration and abandoned by our employer Columbia University. Columbia WAS complicit. Read more:🧵
March 18, 2025 at 9:13 PM
SWC stands by Ranjani Srinivasan, yet another union member targeted by the Trump administration and abandoned by our employer Columbia University. Columbia WAS complicit. Read more:🧵
Columbia University PhD student Ranjani Srinivasan had her visa unjustly revoked without explanation and was forced to flee the US. Despite being in academic good standing, Columbia withdrew her enrollment and her legal status was terminated without due process.
archive.today
March 17, 2025 at 9:42 PM
Columbia University PhD student Ranjani Srinivasan had her visa unjustly revoked without explanation and was forced to flee the US. Despite being in academic good standing, Columbia withdrew her enrollment and her legal status was terminated without due process.
Reposted by Carolyn Swope
Before Mahmoud Khalil's detention last week, ICE came for a Columbia PhD student. She had nothing to do with the Gaza protests, but was arrested last spring during a roundup while trying to walk home. Charges were dismissed. The State Department still revoked her visa.
How a Columbia Student Fled to Canada After ICE Came Looking for Her
Ranjani Srinivasan’s student visa was revoked by U.S. immigration authorities. That was just the start of her odyssey.
www.nytimes.com
March 15, 2025 at 4:11 PM
Before Mahmoud Khalil's detention last week, ICE came for a Columbia PhD student. She had nothing to do with the Gaza protests, but was arrested last spring during a roundup while trying to walk home. Charges were dismissed. The State Department still revoked her visa.
Reposted by Carolyn Swope
Research from 2022 that every Democrat apologist should chew on:
“We do not find any evidence that accommodative strategies reduce radical right support. If anything, our results suggest that they lead to more voters defecting to the radical right.“
www.cambridge.org/core/journal...
“We do not find any evidence that accommodative strategies reduce radical right support. If anything, our results suggest that they lead to more voters defecting to the radical right.“
www.cambridge.org/core/journal...
Does accommodation work? Mainstream party strategies and the success of radical right parties | Political Science Research and Methods | Cambridge Core
Does accommodation work? Mainstream party strategies and the success of radical right parties - Volume 11 Issue 1
www.cambridge.org
March 12, 2025 at 9:06 AM
Research from 2022 that every Democrat apologist should chew on:
“We do not find any evidence that accommodative strategies reduce radical right support. If anything, our results suggest that they lead to more voters defecting to the radical right.“
www.cambridge.org/core/journal...
“We do not find any evidence that accommodative strategies reduce radical right support. If anything, our results suggest that they lead to more voters defecting to the radical right.“
www.cambridge.org/core/journal...
Reposted by Carolyn Swope
This is really, really bad. Columbia made the mistake of thinking that placating the administration would spare them. Other universities made the mistake of thinking it would stop with Columbia. It won’t stop without disciplined pushback; it’s an existential question for American universities.
The Trump administration has terminated $800 million in grants to Johns Hopkins University, spurring the nation’s top spender on research and development to plan layoffs and cancel health projects
Johns Hopkins Plans Staff Layoffs After $800 Million Grant Cuts
Local and international health research efforts are already winding down as the university braces for even more potential cuts.
www.wsj.com
March 12, 2025 at 11:26 AM
This is really, really bad. Columbia made the mistake of thinking that placating the administration would spare them. Other universities made the mistake of thinking it would stop with Columbia. It won’t stop without disciplined pushback; it’s an existential question for American universities.
Reposted by Carolyn Swope
One might think that Columbia would want to put out a statement defending its students and making sure they feel protected. Instead, it wants to clarify that there are circumstances in which they will open the door for ICE to enter and snatch international students.
Columbia has edited a webpage to specify what circumstances justify allowing ICE into buildings without a warrant: “Exigent circumstances (for example, the risk of imminent harm to people or property)…”
publicsafety.columbia.edu/content/prot...
publicsafety.columbia.edu/content/prot...
March 11, 2025 at 2:14 PM
One might think that Columbia would want to put out a statement defending its students and making sure they feel protected. Instead, it wants to clarify that there are circumstances in which they will open the door for ICE to enter and snatch international students.
Reposted by Carolyn Swope
My union @swcolumbia.bsky.social has created a resource to support international students who are experiencing increasingly higher risk of immigration enforcement. We have done this on our own time while the University has remained silent and complicit.
docs.google.com/document/d/1...
docs.google.com/document/d/1...
Info for international student workers
What is this document? This is a living document maintained by SWC’s International Students Working Group and Cops Off Campus Working Group. We will keep adding to it as the situation develops and as...
docs.google.com
March 9, 2025 at 5:17 PM
My union @swcolumbia.bsky.social has created a resource to support international students who are experiencing increasingly higher risk of immigration enforcement. We have done this on our own time while the University has remained silent and complicit.
docs.google.com/document/d/1...
docs.google.com/document/d/1...
Reposted by Carolyn Swope
SWC condemns the ICE/DHS raids on Columbia's campus. We call on President Armstrong to protect international students from immigration enforcement and reinstate Columbia as a sanctuary campus.
Statement: docs.google.com/document/d/1...
Statement: docs.google.com/document/d/1...
![On Saturday, Department of Homeland Security (DHS) officers detained Mahmoud Khalil, a Palestinian recent Columbia graduate and lead negotiator for last spring’s Gaza solidarity encampment. Khalil held a green card at the time of his arrest and remains in detention as thousands petition for his immediate release. We are also aware of multiple reports of ICE agents accessing or attempting to access Columbia campus buildings on Friday and Saturday, including undergraduate dorms.
The presence of immigration enforcement agents in Columbia Housing buildings coincides with Columbia’s publication of a new protocol which reverses the school’s sanctuary campus status and states that “exigent circumstances may allow [ICE] access to University buildings or people without a warrant.” Columbia has abandoned its nearly decade-long commitment to being a sanctuary campus. This development also closely follows the Department of Justice’s announcement on the same day that it plans to cancel $400 million of grants and contracts with Columbia in retaliation for students protesting Columbia’s investments in Israel.
By allowing ICE on campus, Columbia is surrendering to the Trump administration’s assault on universities across the country and sacrificing international students to protect its finances. We call on faculty, staff, postdocs, students, and all other workers at Columbia University to stand against the administration’s cooperation with the Trump administration.
Student Workers of Columbia (UAW Local 2710), whose unit includes many international student workers, demands that President Armstrong reinstate Columbia as a sanctuary campus; refuse to provide information to immigration authorities investigating Columbia affiliates; order Public Safety and private contractors to cease surveillance of Columbia affiliates; destroy all existing records of such surveillance; conduct “know your rights” trainings;](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:qq4uw7ij66zuq77swvhuaufm/bafkreigzc5tnqdd6baxyddimac332lroicvehs5dp6oylnkyfk7vbnjk2y@jpeg)
March 9, 2025 at 6:02 PM
SWC condemns the ICE/DHS raids on Columbia's campus. We call on President Armstrong to protect international students from immigration enforcement and reinstate Columbia as a sanctuary campus.
Statement: docs.google.com/document/d/1...
Statement: docs.google.com/document/d/1...
Reposted by Carolyn Swope
“The president of the United States is illegally impounding critical research funds in an attempt to silence members of the Columbia community. As a university committed to free inquiry, free expression and the rule of law, we categorically reject these efforts and will see him in court.”
what should they say?
March 8, 2025 at 4:44 AM
“The president of the United States is illegally impounding critical research funds in an attempt to silence members of the Columbia community. As a university committed to free inquiry, free expression and the rule of law, we categorically reject these efforts and will see him in court.”
Reposted by Carolyn Swope
But seriously Columbia how did anticipatory obedience work out for you
March 7, 2025 at 6:51 PM
But seriously Columbia how did anticipatory obedience work out for you
Reposted by Carolyn Swope
A lot of Irish Americans — too many of whom are MAGA —need to draw on their immigration history of being starved out of their home country by a hateful, imperial occupier enforcing deliberately cruel laws. It is a sin to view people as ‘other’ when your ancestors suffered that fate.
My grandma was a Biafra war survivor.
So it’s likely certain survival instincts for me are kicking in about our current situation.
But from her I learned it’s possible for things to be a little shaky for a while, and then one day all of a sudden, your world is gone, and you have to leave.
So it’s likely certain survival instincts for me are kicking in about our current situation.
But from her I learned it’s possible for things to be a little shaky for a while, and then one day all of a sudden, your world is gone, and you have to leave.
March 4, 2025 at 9:35 PM
A lot of Irish Americans — too many of whom are MAGA —need to draw on their immigration history of being starved out of their home country by a hateful, imperial occupier enforcing deliberately cruel laws. It is a sin to view people as ‘other’ when your ancestors suffered that fate.
Call for papers in the Journal of Urban Affairs! "Stopping a Tsunami: learning from and beyond emergency tenant protections during the Covid-19 pandemic." think.taylorandfrancis.com/special_issu... Abstracts due to editor @lkb-pdx.bsky.social March 12!
Stopping a Tsunami: learning from and beyond emergency tenant protections during the Covid-19 pandemic
think.taylorandfrancis.com
March 3, 2025 at 3:12 PM
Call for papers in the Journal of Urban Affairs! "Stopping a Tsunami: learning from and beyond emergency tenant protections during the Covid-19 pandemic." think.taylorandfrancis.com/special_issu... Abstracts due to editor @lkb-pdx.bsky.social March 12!
Reposted by Carolyn Swope
When the Trump administration escalates its attacks on academic freedom, don’t count on Democrats or university leaders to hold the line. They’re attacking it all on their own. www.insidehighered.com/news/faculty...
February 27, 2025 at 12:11 PM
When the Trump administration escalates its attacks on academic freedom, don’t count on Democrats or university leaders to hold the line. They’re attacking it all on their own. www.insidehighered.com/news/faculty...
Reposted by Carolyn Swope
just gonna be the thousandth person to remind you all that segregationists start the open bigotry with people they feel they can target most easily but do not end there
Wow—Trump is firing and banning all trans people from the military, per DoD memo.
“Military service by members and applicants for military service who have a current diagnosis or history of, or exhibit symptoms consistent with, gender dysphoria is incompatible with military service.”
Part of memo:
“Military service by members and applicants for military service who have a current diagnosis or history of, or exhibit symptoms consistent with, gender dysphoria is incompatible with military service.”
Part of memo:
February 27, 2025 at 12:50 PM
just gonna be the thousandth person to remind you all that segregationists start the open bigotry with people they feel they can target most easily but do not end there