| This dissertation research is an ethnographic study of urban community gardeners in Cleveland, Ohio that seeks to develop a culturally informed and contextualized definition of 'social capital.' As a conceptual tool, social capital has been used as a way to assess the benefits of social connections and offered as a potential way to explain inequalities in health, yet its heuristic utility remains contested. This research examines the ways in which race, class and gender influence local perceptions of three key components of social capital - social networks, trust, and community engagement - to ground local definitions in a broader understanding of social inequality. Research was conducted in two phases: Phase I included semi-structured interviews with garden leaders (N=23) from varied neighborhoods and racial and socioeconomic backgrounds. Phase II included ethnographic observation and in-depth interviews with gardeners in four Cleveland neighborhood garden sites (N=36) in four different communities.;The findings of this research suggest that social capital, operationalized as social networks, trust and community engagement, is shaped by race and class, but not gender in this sample. White gardeners were more likely than blacks to say that race influences who is a part of their social networks, whom they trust, and their overall view of community and connections between people. The ways in which gardeners described social networks, trust and community engagement differs from the ways in which they are often discussed in the literature. African American and Caucasian gardeners explained these elements of social capital differently, with black gardeners frequently using religious language to talk about trust and community connections. Gardeners commonly emphasized the social aspects of community gardening as being important and beneficial to their health, which suggests the meaning of health in relation to social capital should be expanded beyond the lack of disease to include a general sense of individual and community well being. Trust is paramount in the emic definition of social capital that emerged. Therefore, social capital among this population of Cleveland community gardeners can be defined most simply as the connections between people that build trust and overcome perceived existing barriers. |
