Citizenship and Governance in Somerville: a discussion with Tufts Professor Susan A. Ostrander

In Citizenship and Governance in a Changing City, Susan

Ostrander shows how beneath current high levels of engagement by

Somerville residents lies a struggle about who should be the city’s

elected leaders and how they should conduct the city’s affairs. It is a

struggle waged between diverse residents—relatively new immigrants and a

new middle class—trying to gain a foothold in democratic participation,

and the city’s political “old guard.” Citizenship and Governance in a Changing City

informs current debates about the place of immigrants in civic and

political life, and the role of voluntary associations in local politics

and government. In the process, Ostrander provides useful lessons for

many midsizeurban communities.

Susan A. Ostrander is Professor of Sociology and Professor, Jonathan M.

Tisch College of Citizenship & Public Service at Tufts University.

She is author of Money for Change: Social Movement Philanthropy at

Haymarket People's Fund and Women of the Upper Class.