The "Gente-ficatio" of Boyle Heights
Humanities
FMST 194 Chicana/Latina Cultural Production
While many urban neighborhoods are undergoing gentrification, the barrio community of Boyle Heights appears to be going in a different trajectory, for the time being at least. Using decolonial frameworks, this paper attempts to make sense of the parallel trajectories of folk-driven urban development in Los Angeles' East side since the 1960's that trouble more mainstream narratives of gentrification. Through a cultural studies lens that privileges barrio cultural workers, or as Arlene Davila writes, individuals who are just as vital to the well-being of urban communities but tend to be the most vulnerable to neoliberal reforms, I explore two related Latinoa/Chicano folk phenomenon of urban development known as Chicano utopianism and "gente-fication."
