Sonya Salamon and Katherine MacTavish
- Published in print:
- 2017
- Published Online:
- May 2018
- ISBN:
- 9781501713217
- eISBN:
- 9781501709685
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Cornell University Press
- DOI:
- 10.7591/cornell/9781501713217.003.0004
- Subject:
- Anthropology, American and Canadian Cultural Anthropology
The Illinois trailer park has generous lots, amenities, and liberal pet rules. Choosing this trailer park over alternative local options highlights parental priorities for: affordable housing and ...
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The Illinois trailer park has generous lots, amenities, and liberal pet rules. Choosing this trailer park over alternative local options highlights parental priorities for: affordable housing and children’s access to a quality education. But the adjacent town resists formally incorporating this bordering large park. Prioritizing homeownership, country living, and education are values Illinois park folk share with those in nearby upscale subdivisions. They uniformly believe, however, they are scorned, by the townspeople, who stigmatize them as trailer-trash, because of where they live. That stigma particularly creates a soiled identity for park youth.Less
The Illinois trailer park has generous lots, amenities, and liberal pet rules. Choosing this trailer park over alternative local options highlights parental priorities for: affordable housing and children’s access to a quality education. But the adjacent town resists formally incorporating this bordering large park. Prioritizing homeownership, country living, and education are values Illinois park folk share with those in nearby upscale subdivisions. They uniformly believe, however, they are scorned, by the townspeople, who stigmatize them as trailer-trash, because of where they live. That stigma particularly creates a soiled identity for park youth.