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Title |
On the move and in the moment: community formation, identity, and opportunity in South central Los Angeles, 1945-2008 |
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Author |
Rosas, Abigail |
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Author email |
rosasa@usc.edu;arosas1@gmail.com |
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Degree |
Doctor of Philosophy |
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Document type |
Dissertation |
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Degree program |
American Studies and Ethnicity |
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School |
College of Letters, Arts And Sciences |
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Date defended/completed |
2011-06-01 |
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Date submitted |
2011-07-08 |
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Date approved |
2011-07-08 |
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Restricted until |
2013-07-08 |
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Date published |
2013-07-08 |
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Advisor (committee chair) |
Sanchez, George J. |
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Advisor (committee member) |
Kelley, Robin D.G.
Banet-Weiser, Sarah
Deverell, William F. |
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Abstract |
On the Move and in the Moment examines the relational community formation of ethnic Mexicans and African American residents in South Central Los Angeles from the post World War II period to 2008. I historicize the complexity of South Central Los Angeles African American and ethnic Mexican residents' racial attitudes, activism, and cooperation, as their lives are constantly challenged by diminishing government services, economic disinvestment, and immigration reform. I argue that a binary understanding of tension and cooperation does not adequately define their interaction, but rather closer inspection of their nuanced and complex daily and neighborly acts best captures the generative power of their community formation. I investigate understudied community sectors like minority owned banking institutions and War on Poverty initiatives in the form of community and government operated health clinics and Head Start programs to demonstrate how a strong African American historical legacy of settlement intersects with a growing Mexican immigrant population. Using archival research, newspapers, and oral life histories, I reveal the fragile state of family health, business, and education among impoverished African Americans and ethnic Mexican South Central Los Angeles residents. My approach to the investigation of the lives of South Central Los Angeles residents does not underestimate how changes in this region's economy, local, national, and transnational interpretations of immigration policy, and disinvestment in the accessibility and quality of U.S. government services have transformed the social, cultural, institutional, and political climate and interactions shaping these residents' interconnected struggles for community and U.S. government services. Their actions serve to re-conceptualize South Central Los Angeles as a globalized city rife with generative race relations where working-class people's decisions are made on the move and in the moment. |
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Keyword |
Chicana/o History; comparative ethnic studies; African American history; gender studies; working class history |
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Language |
English |
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Part of collection |
University of Southern California dissertations and theses |
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Publisher (of the original version) |
University of Southern California |
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Place of publication (of the original version) |
Los Angeles, California |
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Publisher (of the digital version) |
University of Southern California. Libraries |
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Provenance |
Electronically uploaded by the author |
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Type |
texts |
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Legacy record ID |
usctheses-m |
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Contributing entity |
University of Southern California |
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Rights |
Rosas, Abigail |
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Physical access |
The author retains rights to his/her dissertation, thesis or other graduate work according to U.S. copyright law. Electronic access is being provided by the USC Libraries in agreement with the author, as the original true and official version of the work, but does not grant the reader permission to use the work if the desired use is covered by copyright. It is the author, as rights holder, who must provide use permission if such use is covered by copyright. The original signature page accompanying the original submission of the work to the USC Libraries is retained by the USC Libraries and a copy of it may be obtained by authorized requesters contacting the repository e-mail address given. |
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Repository name |
University of Southern California Digital Library |
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Repository address |
USC Digital Library, University of Southern California, University Park Campus MC 7002, 106 University Village, Los Angeles, California 90089-7002, USA |
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Repository email |
cisadmin@dots.usc.edu |
|
Archival file |
uscthesesreloadpub_Volume71/etd-RosasAbiga-64.pdf |
University of Southern California Dissertations and Theses
