Associate Professor Ellen Pader (regional planning and public policy) was a featured speaker at a recent day-long forum about the impacts of casinos on neighborhoods and immigrant households in Connecticut. Hosted by the Lyman Allyn Art Museum in New London, Conn., on March 29, 2014, the forum was held in conjunction with an exhibit titled “Sub Urbanisms,” which explores the role of immigrant Chinese casino workers in southeastern Connecticut and their different cultural understandings of housing and community.
Pader spoke about research that she and her students conducted on housing and zoning regulations in Connecticut that discriminate against immigrant casino workers by imposing values that ignore different cultural traditions. She noted the extra burdens these restrictions place on Chinese casino workers, often requiring that they travel long distances to work or prohibiting them from efficient and affordable housing choices.
Pader, an anthropologist by training, is an expert on the cultural, social and political facets of housing policy and design, with particular focus on subtle forms of housing discrimination.
The exhibit at Lyman Allyn runs through May 12. Additional information about visiting the Lyman Allyn Art Museum is available here. An article about the forum appeared in The Day, New London’s daily newspaper.