Stories from Brixton: Gentrification and Different Differences

Brixton is one of the most ethnically diverse neighborhoods of London. Its name has been strongly associated with meanings related to race, difference and postcolonial resistance. This paper sheds light on aspects of local gentrification and multicultural constructions of the social world, as told by people who moved into the area through the years. According to our analysis, Brixton\'s gentrification revolves around the joys of diversity. More interestingly, phenomena of intercultural disassociation that allegedly characterize the gentrified world of Brixton are mostly narrated in economic/social terms (class, income, education, lifestyle etc.) or alternatively in a synthetic way that brings together class along with race, ethnicity, gender and age. As a result of this, a kind of a question arises: What is the relationship between gentrification and different differences and how should it be analyzed, in spaces of diversity, in order to do justice to all categories involved?