55 pages • 1 hour read
Deirdre MaskA modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Explore the relationship between your addresses and your identity. How have the addresses you have had shaped your sense of self and belonging?
How does the book challenge the notion of street names as objective and neutral? Discuss the ways in which addresses reflect and reinforce power dynamics and social hierarchies.
How does the structure of the book—incorporating economic studies, historical narrative, personal reflection, and critical theory—help to build its central arguments? What are the strengths and weaknesses of Deidre Mask’s narrative approach?
How have street names and addressing systems been used as tools for social segregation and inequality in the United States? Compare and contrast American examples with examples from a different country described in the book. In what ways were the addressing techniques and consequences different or similar?
Throughout the book, Mask offers personal reflections on the policies and histories she describes. How does her personal subject position as an African American woman living in London inform these reflections?
How have street names and addressing systems been used to criticize social expectations or affect positive change?
Each chapter of the book focuses on a specific city or country. How does this structure help to support Mask’s argument? What does the map of these locations tell us about her perspective?
The book is divided into five parts: “Development,” “Origins,” “Politics,” “Race,” and “Class and Status.” How do the individual sections of the book speak to each other? How does Mask complicate or continue ideas across sections?
Research the history of your street name. What historical, cultural, geographical, or social markers does it include? How does the history of your street name reflect the history of your community?
Mask believes that innovative addressing systems such as what3words have both positive and negative aspects. Do you regard such systems as beneficial, or problematic? How could addressing be improved in the future?
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