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“A PLACE IN THE SUN”:
MEXICAN AMERICANS, RACE,
AND THE SUBURBANIZATION OF LOS ANGELES
1940-1980
by
Jerry Gonzalez
A Dissertation Presented to the
FACULTY OF THE GRADUATE SCHOOL
UNIVERSITY OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA
In Partial Fulfillment of the
Requirements for the Degree
DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY
(HISTORY)
August 2009
Copyright 2009 Jerry Gonzalez
Object Description
| Title | A place in the sun: Mexican Americans, race, and the suburbanization of Los Angeles, 1940-1980 |
| Author | Gonzalez, Jerry |
| Author email | jbgonzal@usc.edu; jerry.gonzalez3@gmail.com |
| Degree | Doctor of Philosophy |
| Document type | Dissertation |
| Degree program | History |
| School | College of Letters, Arts and Sciences |
| Date defended/completed | 2009-05-28 |
| Date submitted | 2009 |
| Restricted until | Unrestricted |
| Date published | 2009-08-05 |
| Advisor (committee chair) | Sanchez, George J. |
| Advisor (committee member) |
Deverell, William Saito, Leland T. |
| Abstract | This dissertation contributes to a widening dialogue concerning the intersections of race and class in post-World War II American suburbs. Working with archival manuscripts, oral histories, and contemporary social science data I approach my analysis of Mexican American suburbanization and identity construction through the analytical lenses of Chicana/o history and the new suburban history. Bringing these two ostensibly incompatible scholarly fields into conversation challenges the accepted racial discourse on the modern metropolis that envisions race solely through a white and black binary. Instead, my focus on ethnic Mexicans in the post-World War II period illustrates the uneven manifestations of racial difference in American society because pioneer ethnic Mexican suburbanites were able to manipulate their racial identities in order to purchase suburban homes. Racially and culturally, these middle-class Mexican Americans initially held common cause with working-class ethnic Mexicans as they collectively sought to achieve the suburban good life.; Working-class ethnic Mexican suburban communities had deep historical roots in the agricultural industries that once dominated rural Los Angeles. Many of these communities remained in place long after homeowners and local governing bodies rearranged municipal boundaries. However, by the 1970s nearly all suburban municipalities had laid siege to the barrios within their city limits, relying heavily on the involvement of middle class Mexican Americans to broker suburban redevelopment deals. Ultimately, I argue that while the legacies of pervasive racial discrimination in suburban housing battles helped galvanize a cohesive non-white racial identity across suburban Mexican American communities, differing class commitments to housing issues, such as urban renewal and neighborhood redevelopment, fueled tensions within the Mexican American community at large.; Metropolitan Los Angeles is the perfect site to explore issues related to suburban racial and ethnic identity because the twin processes of rapid suburbanization and ethnic Mexican residential dispersion following World War II reflect an early expression of a much more recent trend throughout metropolitan regions in the United States South and Midwest. Moreover, this project articulates a vision of suburbia that simultaneously upholds the popular imagery of upward mobility and dismantles the common mythology that frames suburbs as bastions of the white elite. |
| Keyword | Chicano history; Mexican Americans; race; Los Angeles history |
| Geographic subject (city or populated place) | Los Angeles |
| Coverage date | 1940/1980 |
| Language | English |
| Part of collection | University of Southern California dissertations and theses |
| Publisher (of the original version) | University of Southern California |
| Place of publication (of the original version) | Los Angeles, California |
| Publisher (of the digital version) | University of Southern California. Libraries |
| Provenance | Electronically uploaded by the author |
| Type | texts |
| Legacy record ID | usctheses-m2485 |
| Rights | Gonzalez, Jerry |
| Repository name | Libraries, University of Southern California |
| Repository address | Los Angeles, California |
| Repository email | http://www.usc.edu/isd/libraries/services/ask_a_librarian/email/ |
| Filename | etd-Gonzalez-3042 |
| Archival file | uscthesesreloadpub_Volume26/etd-Gonzalez-3042.pdf |
Description
| Title | Page 1 |
| Full text | “A PLACE IN THE SUN”: MEXICAN AMERICANS, RACE, AND THE SUBURBANIZATION OF LOS ANGELES 1940-1980 by Jerry Gonzalez A Dissertation Presented to the FACULTY OF THE GRADUATE SCHOOL UNIVERSITY OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY (HISTORY) August 2009 Copyright 2009 Jerry Gonzalez |
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