Between ‘Family’ and ‘Trailer Trash’: Neighbour Culture, Place, and Identity in Florida Mobile Homes

Abstract

This chapter is based on 68 interviews in 12 mobile home parks that were part of a larger ethnographic study, conducted in 2005–2010 in West-Central Florida. Data analysis revealed diverse patterns of perception, sentiment, and interaction among neighbours, here understood as ‘neighbour culture’, both across and within communities. American mobile home communities are characterised by a high propinquity of residents and exposure to cultural housing stigma; however, these conditions alone did not determine local neighbour culture. In the analysis, I illustrate prominent patterns of neighbouring, ranging from perceptions and treatments of neighbours as (imagined) ‘family’ in senior communities to, partially, ‘trailer trash’ in suburban family communities. Going beyond description, I argue that the identified supportive, minimalist, and antagonistic forms of neighbour culture are linked to broader spatial and social structural contexts, as well as personal identities. This chapter’s findings have the potential to strengthen the theoretical framing and research of neighbouring in local and global perspectives in the future.

Citation

Kusenbach, M. (2022), "Between ‘Family’ and ‘Trailer Trash’: Neighbour Culture, Place, and Identity in Florida Mobile Homes", Cheshire, L. (Ed.) Neighbours Around the World: An International Look at the People Next Door, Emerald Publishing Limited, Leeds, pp. 129-147. https://doi.org/10.1108/978-1-83909-476-720221008