Maintenance and Destruction of an East Side Los Angeles Indie Rock Scene

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Timothy D. Taylor
Keyword(s):  
Los Angeles ◽  
Ethnographic Study ◽  
East Side ◽  
Exchange Value ◽  
Echo Park ◽  
Indie Rock

This article is based on an ethnographic study of the independent (indie) rock scene in the east side Los Angeles neighborhood of Echo Park. There is very little money derived from music circulating in this scene (musicians are routinely paid only about $35–40 for a show), and musicians, indie label owners, and others attach symbolic values to certain amounts of money, which are viewed in terms of what they can help the musicians purchase, such as gas for the band’s van. People in the scene also produce and exchange value in a number of ways that aren’t capitalist, from generalized reciprocity to several forms of patronage. This article ultimately argues that scenes such as this are simultaneously maintained and destroyed by capitalism: maintained because capitalism needs a reserve army of those who operate outside of it but destroyed because such scenes are deprived of their ability to reproduce themselves given how little money circulates.

scholarly journals Balancing Memory and Material at the Lower East Side Tenement Museum

2018 ◽  
Vol 12 (1) ◽  
pp. 14-29
Author(s):  
Gabrielle A. Berlinger
Keyword(s):  
New York ◽  
Material Culture ◽  
Social History ◽  
Ethnographic Study ◽  
Lower East Side ◽  
East Side ◽  
The Public ◽  
Intangible Heritage ◽  
Time Capsule ◽  
A Site

Abstract: Founded in a nationally landmarked apartment building on the ever-gentrifying Lower East Side of Manhattan, New York, the Lower East Side Tenement Museum is an historic site of immigrant social history and material culture. Constructed in 1864 and occupied by over 7,000 immigrants until its closing in 1935, this building has withstood constantly rising visitorship each year since its opening as a museum in 1988. With apartment spaces restored for the public to explore without roped-off restriction, this time capsule of domestic immigrant life requires continual maintenance to preserve its historic physical fabric. Through interviews with the Museum staff and the Preservation Advisory Committee (conservators, architectural historians, curators), as well as documentation of technical processes carried out in the preservation process, this ethnographic study investigates the questions and compromises that arise in the preservation of the tangible and intangible heritage contained within an historic structure in constant use. Which narratives are reconstructed through the Museum’s decisions to restore certain material features of the building while allowing others to decay? What are best practices for interpretation and preservation when a museum’s success results in the gradual destruction of its main artifact (the building) through use? This study explores the intersection of museum mission and practice, heritage construction, and historic preservation at a site both sustained and destroyed by its increasing success.

scholarly journals Los Angeles language schools and competing Chinese nationalisms

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Calvin N. Ho
Keyword(s):  
Cold War ◽  
Los Angeles ◽  
Resource Dependence ◽  
Ethnographic Study ◽  
Political Support ◽  
Republic Of China ◽  
The Government ◽  
Language Schools ◽  
The Cold War ◽  
The Relationship

The relationship between homeland states and their diasporic subjects abroad has been a subject of social scientific inquiry on both sides of the Atlantic (Dufoix 2008; Smith 2003). Scholars from various disciplinary perspectives have put forth theories of why homeland states engage with emigrant or coethnic populations, and why these populations seek to engage with the government of their homeland. What is missing in the literature is a theory of how such homeland-diaspora relationships come into being and how they change over time. Understanding the development of homeland-diaspora relationships is crucial for making sense of migrant transnationalism and of state sovereignty in a globalized era. This study addresses this gap in the literature through a historical and ethnographic study of the relationship between the Republic of China (ROC) and Chinese language schools in Los Angeles. The case of the ROC and the Chinese diaspora is an illuminating case because the anomalous nature of the ROC’s political status calls into question many of the main assumptions in the existing literature. In particular, it challenges the assumption that each diaspora corresponds to a sole, legitimated homeland state. In the Chinese case, the geopolitical divisions at the end of the Chinese Civil War resulted in two states: the People’s Republic of China (PRC) on the Chinese mainland and the ROC on the island of Taiwan. While the communist PRC was not geopolitically legitimate in the West during the early part of the Cold War, widespread recognition of the PRC in the 1970s has left the ROC’s statehood claim in a liminal state. For the diaspora, this has resulted in two potential homeland states. The ROC’s de-legitimated claim to statehood has left it dependent on diaspora political support just as demographic shifts and transformations in the US social and political environment made it easier for the diaspora to support the PRC. I argue that the balance of power between the ROC diaspora bureau and the language schools have transformed since the Cold War as a result of domestic and geopolitical changes. The key factor shaping this relationship is the presence of the PRC and its changing geopolitical role since the 1980s. My explanation bridges theories of migrant transnationalism with theories of resource dependence among hierarchically linked organizations. This study contributes to the literatures on immigration, nationalism, and ethnicity, but also to broader literatures on borders and the reach of the state.

scholarly journals Book Reviews

1987 ◽  
Vol 143 (1) ◽  
pp. 159-198
Author(s):  
M.A. Bakel ◽  
A. Appadurai ◽  
C. Baks ◽  
Ákos Östör ◽  
W.E.A. Beek ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Los Angeles ◽  
Social Action ◽  
Social Life ◽  
Pacific Islands ◽  
Social Institutions ◽  
Ethnographic Study ◽  
Cultural Perspective ◽  
Social Anthropology ◽  
Cambridge University ◽  
The Social

- J. van Goor, Rechtzetting. - M.A. van Bakel, A. Appadurai, The social life of things. Commodities in cultural perspective, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. 1986. XIV + 329 pp. - C. Baks, Ákos Östör, Culture and power; Legend, ritual, bazaar and rebellion in a Bengali society, New Dehli etc.: Sage Publications, 1984, 224 pp., including notes and glossary. - W.E.A. van Beek, B. Bernardi, Age class systems; Social institutions based on age, Cambridge University Press, 1985, 199 pp. - H.W. Bodewitz, J.-M Péterfalvi, Le Mahabharata. Livres I à V. Livres VI à XVIII. Extraits traduits du sanscrit par Jean-Michel Péterfalvi. Commentaires, résumé et glossaire par Madeleine Biardeau, Paris: Flammarion, 1985 and 1986. 381 + 382 pp., M. Biardeau (eds.) - Paul Doornbos, Raymond C. Kelly, The Nuer conquest - The structure and development of an expansionist system, Ann Arbor: The University of Michigan Press, 1985, 320 pp. - Henk Driessen, Paul Spencer, Society and the dance: The social anthropology of process and performance, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1985, 224 pp. - D. Gerrets, Daniel Miller, Ideology, power and prehistory, Cambridge: University Press, 1984. 157 pp. numerous figs., Christopher Tilly (eds.) - Peter Kloos, Jacques Lizot, Les Yanomami Centraux, Editions de l’Ecole des Hautes Etudes en Sciences Sociales, Paris 1984, 267 pp. - Peter Kloos, Jacques Lizot, Tales of the Yanomami; Daily life in the Venezuelan forest, Cambridge Studies in Social Anthropology no. 55, Cambridge University Press, 1985, 196 pp. - Peter Kloos, H. Zevenbergen, Zwakzinnigen in verschillende culturen, Lisse: Swets & Zeitlinger, 1986, 109 pp. - Piet Konings, Freek Schiphorst, Macht en Onvermogen: Een studie van de relatie tussen staat en boeren op het Vea-irrigatie project Ghana, Universiteit van Amsterdam, CANSA publikatie nr. 20, 1983, 107 pp. - S. Kooijman, E. Schlesier, Eine ethnographische Sammlung aus Südost-Neuguinea. - H.M. Leyten, Bernhard Gardi, Zaïre masken figuren, Museum für Völkerkunde und Schweizerisches Museum für Volkskunde, Basel, 1986. - J. Miedema, Bruce M. Knauft, Good company and violence: Sorcery and social action in a lowland New Guinea Society, Berkeley, Los Angeles/London: University of California Press, 1985, X + 474 pp. - David S. Moyer, David H. Turner, Life before genesis, a conclusion: An understanding of the significance of Australian aboriginal culture, Toronto Studies in religion volume 1, Peter Lang, New York, 1983, vii + 181 pp. - B. van Norren, Peter Kloos, Onderzoekers onderzocht; Ethische dilemma’s in antropologisch veldwerk, DSWO Press, Leiden, 1984. - Jérôme Rousseau, Victor T. King, The Maloh of West Kalimantan. An ethnographic study of social inequality and social change among an Indonesian Borneo people, Dordrecht-Holland/Cinnaminson-U.S.A.: Foris Publications, Verhandelingen van het Koninklijk Instituut voor Taal-, Land- en Volkenkunde no. 108, 1985. viii + 252 pp., maps, diagrams, plates, glossary. - Jérôme Rousseau, Alain Testart, Le communisme primitif, I. Economie et idéologie, Paris: Editions de la Maison des Sciences de l’Homme, 1985, 549 pp. - Arie de Ruijter, David Pace, Claude Lévi-Strauss. The bearer of ashes, London: Routledge and Kegan Paul (Ark Paperbacks), 1986. - B.J. Terwiel, Roland Mischung, Religion und Wirklichkeitsvorstellungen in einem Karen-Dorf Nordwest-Thailands, Weisbaden: Franza Steiner Verlag, 1984. - B.J. Terwiel, Niels Mulder, Everyday life in Thailand; An interpretation, Second, Revised edition, Bangkok: Duang Kamol, 1985. 227 pages, paperback. - R.S. Wassing, Sidney M. Mead, Art and artists of Oceania, The Dunmore Press, Palmerston North, New Zealand, 1983. 308 pp., drawings, black and white illustrations., Bernie Kernot (eds.) - Harriet T. Zurndorfer, Maarten van der Wee, Aziatische Produktiewijze en Mughal India, Ph.D thesis, Katholieke Universiteit, Nijmegen, 1985. xv + 399 pp. - M.A. van Bakel, J. Terrell, Prehistory in the Pacific Islands. A study of variation in language, customs and human biology, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. 1986, XVI + 299 pp.

scholarly journals On Identity, Place, Dignity, and Honor: The Madonnas of Echo Park (2010) by Brando Skyhorse

2014 ◽  
pp. 79
Author(s):  
Amaya Ibarrarán-Bigalondo
Keyword(s):  
Los Angeles ◽  
Personal Identity ◽  
Living Conditions ◽  
Strong Sense ◽  
Direct Link ◽  
Male Characters ◽  
Echo Park ◽  
The Way

Brando Skyhorse’s first novel, The Madonnas of Echo Park, set in Echo Park, Los Angeles, portrays the lives, thoughts and feelings of eight different and diverse characters. All of them expose their direct link to the space they inhabit: the barrio. Parting from the premise that the link between space and identity is inextricable, and the fact that the general living conditions and access to different resources is scarce in many U.S. Latino quarters, the aim of this essay is to observe whether the way the characters experience this space affects their personal identity and relation to dignity and honor. Particularly, the way barrio life affects and shapes the personality of male characters. For this purpose, we will employ Alfredo Mirandé’s conceptualization of Chicano masculinity, characterized by a strong sense of honor, dignity and pride, among other things. We thus will observe whether a tough environment produces tough men.

Fighting Feelings

2016 ◽  
Vol 60 (1) ◽  
pp. 77-94 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jeffrey O. Sacha
Keyword(s):  
Los Angeles ◽  
Low Income ◽  
Young Men ◽  
Ethnographic Study ◽  
Point Of View ◽  
South Los Angeles ◽  
Training Techniques ◽  
Men Of Color ◽  
Color Data ◽  
Depth Interviews

This article explores the mentorship of low-income young men of color by examining amateur boxing coaches and the training techniques that they use. Studying both the actions and the intentions of boxing coaches offers insights into the increasingly rare experience of adult male mentorship for low-income young men of color. Data for this article come from a 13-month ethnographic study of a South Los Angeles boxing gym and in-depth interviews with the gym’s boxing coaches. This article explores two aspects of the training process from the coach’s point of view: the creation and enforcement of rules to differentiate the boxing gym from “the street” and the use of “emotional regimens” in training. The coaches in this study acted as “old head” mentors for their fighters and used emotional regimens to encourage a particular form of masculinity with their amateur boxers that simultaneously embraced and forbade certain expressions of “street” masculinity.

Interview with Allan Sekula

2004 ◽  
Vol 66 ◽  
pp. 155-172 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jack (John Kuo Wei) Tchen
Keyword(s):  
Los Angeles ◽  
Lower Manhattan ◽  
Echo Park ◽  
Allan Sekula

Still reeling from 9/11, I had been working in and about lower Manhattan nonstop until this trip. It was great to be far away in the smog-filtered Los Angeles sun, if even only for a day. I met Allan Sekula in his Echo Park work studio, a nondescript corner storefront filled with files of his photographs and boxes of exhibition prints just a stone's throw from Koreatown.

scholarly journals Migración y calidad de vida: el caso de los migrantes latinoamericanos resididos en el este de Los Ángeles, California / Migration and Quality of Life: A Case Study of Latin American Immigrants on the East Side of Los Angeles, California

2016 ◽  
Vol 5 (1) ◽  
pp. 129-143
Author(s):  
Víctor Hugo Rentería Pedraza ◽  
Andrea Lyn Spears Kirkland
Keyword(s):  
Quality Of Life ◽  
Los Angeles ◽  
Latin American ◽  
National Income ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Subjective Well Being ◽  
East Side ◽  
Calidad De Vida ◽  
Latin American Immigrants

ABSTRACTIn this article, we present the results of a comprehensive evaluation of the quality of life of Latin American immigrants, who reside on the east side of Los Angeles, California. In order to evaluate their quality of life, we designed an instrument based on objective, social, and subjective well-being indicators. One hundred and thirty-eight immigrants participated in the study, which obtained the following results. In the regards to the immigrants’ objective well-being, the study found that the population group enjoys an acceptable quality of life standard given that they enjoy access to basic services and household goods, and do not live in overcrowded conditions. However, the study does confirm the fact that the group in question earns much less than the average U.S. national income. With respects to their social well-being, the participants reported an acceptable degree of personal social development, family coexistence, the exercise of cultural, religious and personal beliefs and practices, and access to information, as well as free time and opportunities for recreation. Finally, the study finds that Latin American immigrants, who reside in East Los Angeles, are highly satisfied with their lives and enjoy a high degree of subjective well-being. Moreover, the migratory experience has not affected negatively their perceived quality of life.RESUMENEn este trabajo presentamos los resultados de una valoración integral de la calidad de vida de migrantes lati-noamericanos que radican en la zona este de Los Ángeles, California. Desde un enfoque cuantitativo, diseñamos un instru-mento para medir el bienestar objetivo, social y subjetivo, el cual se aplicó a 138 personas del grupo de población señalado, obteniendo los siguientes resultados. Con respecto al bienestar objetivo, los datos obtenidos demuestran la existencia de una calidad de vida aceptable en lo que corresponde a la vivienda, ya que los migrantes cuentan con los servicios y enseres básicos del hogar y no existen niveles altos de hacinamiento. Sin embargo, en lo relativo al ingreso, el estudio confirma el hecho de que los migrantes devengan salarios inferiores a la media nacional en Estados Unidos. En lo que corresponde al bienestar social, existe una aceptable percepción sobre la capacidad para desarrollarse socialmente, la convivencia fami-liar, el ejercicio de la cultura, la práctica de la religión y las creencias personales, el acceso a la información y los medios para la recreación y ocio, por lo que se concluye que el bienestar social también cumple en la conformación de una vida de calidad. Por último, los resultados del estudio, relacionados al bienestar subjetivo, indican que los migrantes latinoamerica-nos se encuentran altamente satisfechos con su vida y que la migración no ha tenido una incidencia negativa sustancial en sus valoraciones integrales en torno a la calidad de vida.

Anti-gentrification Campaigns and the Fight for Local Control in California Cities

2018 ◽  
Vol 12 (1) ◽  
pp. 9-20 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nancy H. Kwak
Keyword(s):  
Los Angeles ◽  
Public Relations ◽  
San Francisco ◽  
Involuntary Movement ◽  
Central City ◽  
East Side ◽  
Service Workers ◽  
Real Estate Markets ◽  
Housing Rights ◽  
Global Movement

Abstract Gentrification is integral to the functioning of global cities: international developers raze old housing and renovate industrial lofts for elite service workers seeking central-city accommodations. In the process, local real estate markets heat up and working-class residents find themselves priced out, displaced more often than not to peripheral sites of the global metropolis. In Californian communities in downtown and the east side of Los Angeles, the Mission in San Francisco, and Barrio Logan in San Diego, however, residents rejected this process of involuntary movement, instead arguing for the value of historically rich, rooted communities. In what appeared to be a wave of anti-global activism beginning in the 1980s, residents worked to regain control over their local communities through a variety of strategies including the deliberate deployment of local culture and arts, and the increasingly savvy use of media and public relations. With these tools, anti-gentrifiers asserted ownership without property titles, housing rights without mortgages, and community buy-in without cash deposits. Anti-gentrification movements thus constituted a direct challenge to the workings of the global city while also feeding into a global movement to restore political power to the grassroots.

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