cultura

i was talking to Rob last night about LA history.
We talked about how LA is a city whose history, in some ways, has yet to be written-- because it is still very live, very much going on right now.
There has yet to be established a coherent civic culture, a mythological past like that of New York, Boston, Chicago..

one thing that i think we will see in the next 20 years is the 'coming of age' of the Latino immigrant community. I think this will be one of the most significant events in shaping the city's future. The amazing thing about Latino LA is that it re-invents itself every couple of generations-depending on the prevailing social conditions. It is in constant flux. In the 30s and 40s, there was large scale immigration leading to the creation of the first large post-immigration barrios.....the children of these immigrants were born in these barrios, and contributed to the formation of these places as cultural homelands in the collective Mex-Am psyche. They were the first to go to college, to participate in the walkouts, the civil rights movement, to move out of East LA and into the suburbs ot the east. Just at the children of earlier immigrants grew up to be the Zoot Suiters and WWII vets, the children of the next immigrant wave became the civil rights leaders, budding middle class, gang members, Chicanos...

Now, what I think will happen in the next couple generations is that South LA will actually come to challenge East LA's hegemony as Chicano/Immigrant cultural center. When the children of South LA gorw up and come into their own, they will be in a position, i think, to really change the face of the Latino culture of the city, as well as its power structure. Of course, this all depends on what kinds of conditions they have to work in. South LA is not East LA. In many ways, South LA is a de-centralized wasteland-- no identifiable cultural centers, gathering places, infrastructure-just and endless sprawl of residential and sweatshops. a growing cadre of young, UC educated minorities are pouring resources into the community, teaching, heading non-profits, etc., on the upside.
But another thing that makes it dificult is that the powers that be have a strong grip and a vested interest in the current layout of many parts of south LA. It is not just a blighted, marginal residential area that can be shrugged off as a containment for the non-white working class (As east la was) Rather, South LA is a dynamic third-world economic vortex....where capital from many differient tiers of ethnic and economic power (Korean, Japanese, white..) are invested in the dirty little shameful indutries (namely, the textile industry) that empower the business elite.

Also, the Latino community is becoming increasingly mixed, with many central americans establishing communities alongside Mexican. I would not be surprised if in 30 years the UCs have well established Central American Studies Departments.

This is strange for me to think about, becasue I am decended from and influenced by the intellectual heritage of 1.) the civil rights era Chicano movement, which first established a vocabulary, cultural lexicon, ethnic mythology and hybrid identidy...they were the ones who built Chicano studies, who challenged the school system, who wrote the first generation of influential texts and studies that we 20 and 30-somethings now all cite as classics in our college classrooms. My dad was at the tail end of this generation...the generation of Corky Gonzalez, the Plan de Aztlan, and Yo Soy Joaquin. They gave us the name Chicano and Aztlan. They actually expereinced the discrimination and racism in its worst forms. 2.) The second group I claim heritage from are the 20 and 30-something "2nd generation' intellectuals who came of age in and pioneered the Postmodern shift in multicultural studies in the 1980s. They were the kids, the ones who had not known the struggles of their mothers and fathers, but still had a sharp taste for justice. They took shit to the next level. They took all the classics, the Civil Rights era stuff,and went more radical with it. They are the originators of 'intersecting systems of oppression' of post-civil rights post-modern theory...Xicana Feminists, Queer Theorists, Neo Marxists, etc. They deepened the body of work that the Old School had left us with, and were not shy about critiquing the shortcomings of the previous generation. They brought "critical thrid-world theory" and "feminist deconstructivism" to the table. They tore apart the Chicano Power movement and re-built it along Postmodern lines. They are Gloria Anzaldua, Ana Castillo, Ramon Gutierrez and many others. My professors who had the most influence on me incollege were all from this gereration of intellectuals - April Mayes, Deena Gonzalez, Gilda Ochoa, Tanalis Padilla....all of these young Pomona profs to whom I am greatly indebted.

anyway, just some thoughts.

Its interesting to think of how the kids in NWN and their children will identify themselves culturally.