Awards

• Commended for PROSE Award in Sociology and Social Work 2017
• Long-listed for Andrew Carnegie Medal for Excellence In Nonfiction 2016
• Winner of Scholarly Achievement Award, North Central Sociological Association 2018

Overview

Residential motels have long been places of last resort for many vulnerable Americans-released prisoners, people with disabilities or mental illness, struggling addicts, the recently homeless, and the working poor. Cast aside by their families and mainstream society, they survive in squalid, unsafe, and demeaning circumstances that few of us can imagine. For a year, the sociologist Christopher P. Dum lived in the Boardwalk Motel to better understand its residents and the varied paths that brought them there. He witnessed moments of violence and conflict, as well as those of care and compassion. As told through the voices and experiences of motel residents, Exiled in America paints a portrait of a vibrant community whose members forged identities in response to overwhelming stigma and created meaningful lives despite crushing economic instability. In addition to chronicling daily life at the Boardwalk, Dum follows local neighborhood efforts to shut the establishment down, leading to a wider analysis of legislative attempts to sanitize shared social space. He also suggests meaningful policy changes to address the societal failures that lead to the need for motels such as the Boardwalk. The story of the Boardwalk, and the many motels like it, will concern anyone who cares about the lives of America's most vulnerable citizens.

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9780231176422

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Reviews

It is not often, after forty years in the business, that I actually get excited by a new scholar's tone-that I find it so fascinating, so rich, so theoretically and analytically thick, that I actually go agog over it. Such is the case with Dum's work. -- Peter Adler, Professor Emeritus of Sociology and Criminology, University of Denver

It is not often, after forty years in the business, that I actually get excited by a new scholar's tone-that I find it so fascinating, so rich, so theoretically and analytically thick, that I actually go agog over it. Such is the case with Dum's work. -- Peter Adler, Professor Emeritus of Sociology and Criminology, University of Denver A keen, well-written study of the powerful social forces of inequality as they are shaped by cultural issues and social institutions. Dum provides an unusual glimpse of a unique population living at a difficult and hazardous place-a nuanced and important work. -- Terry Williams, author, The Con Men: Hustling in New York City

It is not often, after forty years in the business, that I actually get excited by a new scholar's tone-that I find it so fascinating, so rich, so theoretically and analytically thick, that I actually go agog over it. Such is the case with Dum's work. -- Peter Adler, Professor Emeritus of Sociology and Criminology, University of Denver A keen, well-written study of the powerful social forces of inequality as they are shaped by cultural issues and social institutions. Dum provides an unusual glimpse of a unique population living at a difficult and hazardous place-a nuanced and important work. -- Terry Williams, author, The Con Men: Hustling in New York City Living in a poverty motel that houses the most marginalized and scrutinized populations in the US, Christopher P. Dum documents the lived drama of managed stigma, the eruptive proclivities of a caring fragile community of 'social refugees,' the tragedy of public indifference, and the humanity of capitalism's newly rendered 'huddled masses.' It is a story that can only be told through immersive ethnography. -- Timothy Black, author, When a Heart Turns Rock Solid: The Lives of Three Puerto Rican Brothers On and Off the Streets Christopher P. Dum digs down deep inside the darkness of marginality and exclusion to find the lives that others willfully ignore. Amidst that darkness Dum discovers hard living and plenty of hurt, but something else as well: little flowerings of courage and community. An exemplar of engaging ethnography, Exiled in America is a book that I've now read twice, and will no doubt read again-it's that good. -- Jeff Ferrell, author, Empire of Scrounge

Author Information

Christopher P. Dum is assistant professor in the Department of Sociology at Kent State University. He is a contributor to Justice Quarterly and Children and Youth Services Review.

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