Professor Modan is interested in how people talk and write about city spaces. Her research examines how people use language to create identities for the cities and neighborhoods where they live—and for themselves as legitimate urbanites—and the implications this has for the creation, maintenance or destruction of cities as places of democratic interaction. She has been particularly interested in the role that such language plays in processes of gentrification and multi-ethic community formation, primarily in Washington DC and Amsterdam. Modan is also working on narrative orientation and language and medical encounters.

Selected Publications