Omaha, Nebraska, Woodstock for Capitalists: Urban Tragedy of the Post-Industrial Midwest

This dissertation is an ethnographic exploration of the post-industrial economy of Omaha, Nebraska. It investigates Omaha’s consistent high ranking on a number of “Forbes standards” for places to live and the contradiction that it also has one of the worst intergenerational poverty rates, and highest per-capita black homicide rate in the nation. I offer a critique of structural forces, urban development, and typical means of addressing injustice that are related to the social and economic forces within post-industrial capitalism. It is an ethnographic accounting of the social, historical, and political forces that shaped the post-industrial cityscape and follows with theoretical intervention into urban violence. I began with an historical analysis of the social and economic forces that built the city, followed by extensive field observations and interviews. The research findings suggest problems within late-capitalism, and capitalist means of addressing injustice, that contribute to the structural and direct violence of the city. I conclude with a model to address such violence based on empirical observations, capitalist resistance, and basic human needs.