Ariana Denise Brazier

“Ghetto Ergonomics” is a site-based study of two playgrounds in Southwest Atlanta, Georgia. Katheryn Johnston Memorial and Rodney Cook Sr. Parks are located in poor, Black neighborhoods navigating gentrification. Their construction was simultaneous with the five-year displacement process that devastated Thomasville Heights in Southeast Atlanta. Despite the upheaval, former residents convene daily at Thomasville playground to fellowship and play. Using ethnographic methods created during doctoral fieldwork in Thomasville, “Ghetto Ergonomics” studies how Black communities are survived by play.