Care Praxis in Los Angeles’s Antigentrification Movement: On-the-Ground Womxn of Color Geographies

Abstract

This article analyzes womxn of color (WOC) antigentrification activism and examines the layered embodied politics through a “praxis of care.” Adopting an intersectional lens not only enhances our racial, cultural, and gendered analysis of the impacts of gentrification; it also signals more ethical and holistic approaches to gathering data from aggrieved communities who face precarity across a spectrum. We discuss how we employed a praxis of care as a method for this article while also discussing its effect through the racial and gendered modes of antidisplacement work via “on the ground” community members we refer to as compañeras. This analysis focuses on three central and interrelated themes that arose from our time interviewing our compañeras, who personally and collectively address gentrification in their community through a sense of place, trauma gender battle fatigue, and accountability. Less is known, however, about how WOC navigate their interpersonal and collective responsibilities under systems of power that influence processes like gentrification. Scholarship examining the intersections of antigentrification work through a gendered and racial lens provides significant insight into present-day urban landscapes like Los Angeles’s South Central and greater Eastside neighborhoods.

本文采用“关怀实践”方法, 分析了有色人种女性（WOC）的反高档化激进主义, 审视了层次化的具身政治。通过一个交叉视角, 改进了对高档化影响的种族、文化和性别分析, 也标志着从动荡的受害社区收集数据更加合乎道德、更加全面。本文讨论了“关怀实践”的运用方法。通过我们称为“女伴”的“实地”社区成员, 以及反搬迁行为的种族和性别模式, 我们探讨了“关怀实践”的影响。关注了采访“女伴”时出现的三个核心且相关的主题：通过地方感知、创伤—性别斗争疲劳和问责制, 这些“女伴”独自或共同解决社区高档化问题。然而, 在影响高档化等过程的权力体系下, 我们并不了解WOC如何履行人际责任和集体责任。从性别化和种族视角去研究反高档化行为的交叉点, 可以洞悉洛杉矶中南部和大东区等当今城市景观。

Este artículo analiza el activismo antigentrificación de las mujeres de color (WOC) y examina la política encarnada en estratos por medio de una “praxis del cuidado”. Adoptar una lente interseccional no solo fortalece nuestros análisis raciales, culturales y de género de los impactos de la gentrificación, sino que también señala enfoques más éticos y holísticos para recabar datos de las comunidades agraviadas que se enfrentan a todo el espectro de la precariedad. Discutimos cómo utilizamos la praxis del cuidado como método para este artículo, al tiempo que también discutimos su efecto a través de los modos raciales y de género de la gestión antidesplazamiento, a través de miembros de la comunidad “en el terreno”, a quienes nos referimos como compañeras. Este análisis se enfoca sobre tres temas centrales, y sus interrelacionados, que surgieron cuando entrevistaban a nuestras compañeras, quienes personal y colectivamente abordan el problema de la gentrificación en su comunidad por medio del sentido de lugar, trauma de género por la fatiga de la batalla, y la responsabilidad. Menos se sabe, sin embargo, sobre la forma como las WOC asumen sus responsabilidades interpersonales y colectivas bajo sistemas de poder que influyen en procesos como la gentrificación. La erudición que se detiene en el examen de las intersecciones del trabajo de la antigentrificación, por medio de una perspectiva racial y de género, proveen una visión significativa de los actuales paisajes urbanos, como los vecindarios de la parte sur-central y el Greater Eastside de Los Ángeles.

Key Words:

• activism
• gentrification
• Los Angeles
• praxis of care
• womxn of color

关键词:

• 激进主义
• 高档化
• 洛杉矶
• 关怀实践
• 有色人种女性

Palabras clave:

• activismo
• gentrificación
• Los Ángeles
• mujeres de color
• praxis del cuidado

Acknowledgments

We would like to acknowledge the compañeras in this article. This article would not have been possible without them and their offerings of care to their respective communities. Carla Macal is grateful to her Critical Race Lab colleagues and advisor Dr. Laura Pulido who provided critical feedback on the article. Kimberly Miranda would like to acknowledge all her relations and is inspired by the transnational struggle for liberation.

Notes

1 We use x in womxn to express gender fluidity.

2 We use compañeras throughout the article to note the intimate relationship in antigentrification organizing efforts we share with the participants, but also to reference third-world feminist approaches to acknowledge one another as comrades.

3 South Central has a demographic of 68.81 percent renter-burdened population (5,966 tenants out of 8,670 are paying over 30 percent of their income for rent; USC Neighborhood Data for Social Change n.d.).

4 Boyle Heights has a demographic of 62.335 percent renter-burdened population (11,196 tenants out of 17,961 are paying over 30 percent of their income for rent; USC Neighborhood Data for Social Change n.d.).

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Carla Macal

CARLA MACAL is a PhD Candidate in the Department of Geography, University of Oregon, Eugene, OR 97403. E-mail: [email protected]. Her research interests include cultural memory, feminist geographies, and intergenerational healing among GuateMaya feminist groups.

Kimberly Miranda

KIMBERLY MIRANDA is a PhD Candidate in the Department of Chicana/o and Central American Studies, University of California, Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA 90095. E-mail: [email protected]. Her research interests include spiritual activism, abolition, political popular education, and transnational feminisms.