Zachary Blair

My current project explores the imbrications of urban development, racial displacement, sexual normativization, and environmental degradation in Central Florida. Specifically, analyzing the interrelationship between historical trends of economic inequality, profit-making, and ecological modification with social movements, sexuality, and lived experiences after the Great Recession. Below is a juxtaposition of a western portion of historic Winter Park, known as the Dixie Terrac

I am currently conducting a comparative study of the political economy of violence using various spaces in Central Florirda including historic Winter Park, Hannibal Square, Downtown Orlando, and Parramore. Specifically, I am examining the intersections between environmental violence, racial violence, and anti-LGBTQ+ violence as they are reproduced through and within the context of urban development. Here are some recent snapshots from my fieldwork: On Friday, November 2, 2018

I have been tracking development in my neighborhood and have previously posted footage of a house being demolished one block over from where I live. At the intersection where this house once stood, two other houses were also demolished and turned into empy lots ready for new homes. Since my last posting, construction has been underway on all three lots. The home being built on the lot that I recorded has created a stir that made the local news after a six-foot concrete wall w

Research and data collection continues on my project studying urban development in Winter Park. I have made some interesting discoveries while studying Dixie Terrace that connect local development to a few unlikely social mechanisms, as it is simultaneously shaped by some of the usual players (i.e. racial segregation, patterns of global capital, and neighborhood nostalgia). Looking forward to developing this insights as my research continues. In the meantime, I'll be sharing

I am currently writing a piece on Winter Park's disappearing tree canopy that is part of a larger project I have been working on for the past several months. Briefly, it explores the disappearing urban forest that has resulted from contemporary, neoliberal urban development. More to come, but I have been using Google Maps street view to confirm my suspicions, document what I can remember, and provide evidence of my larger argument, which is more expansive than just a conversa

On October 28th, No Tea, No Shade: New Writings in Black Queer Studies will be published. This is a volume of scholarly works edited by E. Patrick Johnson that serves as a follow-up to his original edited volume, Black Queer Studies: A Critical Anthology. This volume features an essay I wrote based on my fieldwork in Boystown, Chicago entitled, "Boystown: Gay Neighborhoods, Social Media, and the (Re)production of Racism." In it, I explore the role of Facebook in the productio