Mapping narratives: the 1992 Los Angeles riots as a case study for narrative-based geovisualization

Abstract

In this paper, I demonstrate that narrative-based geovisualization contributes to a broader understanding of complex social and inherently spatial phenomena, such as riots, when combined with other data. Past spatial scholarship on riots has analyzed point-distribution data representing damaged structures caused by fires and vandalism. Although this approach is insightful, the analysis of damaged structures engages with just one type of many other significant occurrences during a riot. Since riots are a result of human actions, I am interested in representing other significant occurrences through the eyewitness, on-the-ground accounts—or narratives—that reveal individual observations and experiences. Using the 1992 Los Angeles riots as a case study, I combine point-distribution data and narrative data as a complementary, multiple-methods approach to investigate human actions during riots.

Keywords:

• narrative
• geovisualization
• qualitative data
• multiple-methods
• riots
• Los Angeles

Acknowledgements

I would like to thank the editor and the three anonymous reviewers for their insightful comments and support. I would also like to thank Dydia DeLyser, Jörn Seemann, and E. Cory Sills for all their help along the way.

Notes

1. Dykes et al. (2005) define geovisualization as a multi-disciplinary field focused on innovative approaches and techniques representing spatial data.

2. Los Angeles also experienced the Zoot Suit riots in 1943, which were a series of physical altercations primarily between local Mexican Americans and US servicemen in town on leave. In contrast to the Watts riots in 1965 and the 1992 Los Angeles riots, the Zoot Suit riots had no fatalities or major property damage and were mostly contained within downtown Los Angeles (see Mazón 1984).

3. Data acquired from the United States Census Bureau website. 1990 Summary Tape File 1 (STF 1)-100-Percent data, Quick Tables [online]. Available from: http://factfinder.census.gov/servlet/QTGeoSearchByListServlet?ds_name=DEC_1990_STF1_&_lang=en&_ts=220396908526 [Accessed 29 December 2008].

4. Data acquired from the United States Census Bureau website. 1990 Census Tract Cartographic Boundary Files [online]. Available from: http://www.census.gov/geo/www/cob/tr1990.html#shp [Accessed 29 December 2008].

5. Figure acquired from the United States Census Bureau, Table 22. Population of the 100 Largest Urban Places: 1990. Available from: http://www.census.gov/population/www/documentation/twps0027/tab22.txt [Accessed 27 May 2009].

6. On 6 March 1991, security cameras at the Empire Liquor Market videotaped Korean storeowner Soon Ja Du shoot and kill suspected shoplifter, fifteen-year-old Latasha Harlins. Du's sentence was a $500 fine, 400 hours of community service, and probation for five years—a sentence many African Americans thought too lenient, resulting in further animosity between black residents and Korean merchants (Sanders-McMurtry 2007).

7. Vons is located at 1430 S. Fairfax, Los Angeles, CA 90019. See Vons website, Find a Store feature [online]. Available from: http://www.vons.com/ifl/grocery/store-locator [Accessed 29 December 2008].

8. Sociologist Morris Janowitz (1969) discusses the changing nature of riots in the United States, from communal- to commodity-type events.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Paul R. Watts

Paul R. Watts is a Ph.D. candidate at the Department of Geography and Anthropology, Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, LA, USA