COMMUNITY ACTIVISM IN OAK PARK: COMPETING AGENDAS ...

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Student: Rose Regina Garcia I certify that this student has met the requirements for format contained in the University format manual, and that this thesis is suitable for shelving in the Library and credit is to be awarded for the thesis. _________________________, Graduate Coordinator _______________ Michael Delacorte, Ph.D. Date Department of Anthropology iv
Abstract of COMMUNITY ACTIVISM IN OAK PARK: COMPETING AGENDAS FOR CHANGE IN A GENTRIFYING NEIGHBORHOOD by Rose Regina Garcia Statement of Problem: Through an ethnographic analysis of activism in Oak Park, a working-class neighborhood of Sacramento, California, this work explores conflict in the ways different community groups define social change and reveals how different perspectives on such change and competing strategies of neighborhood improvement help shape residents’ claims to the city. Sources of Data: Data were gathered by the author’s participation in community groups and non-profit organizations in Oak Park and observation of their attempts to improve the quality of life for residents in the community. The author’s fieldwork was further substantiated by the use of extensive anthropological and sociological research in print, as well as a small amount of research from other fields. In addition, the author made use of historical news articles from the Sacramento Bee as well as the Sacramento News and Review, a news and entertainment publication. Conclusions Reached: Efforts to improve the quality of life for residents occur through revitalization projects, grass-roots projects, labor organizing, and programs of non-profit agencies. The ethnographic data highlight the ways that community groups are facilitating social change in the gentrifying neighborhood of Oak Park. Although the community groups’ agendas for social change are aimed at improving the quality of life for residents, their efforts are heterogeneous and different strategies to facilitate such change are fueled by various notions of social change of the middle-class, women, and activist residents. Analysis of the data suggests that groups’ efforts to improve the quality of life for residents in Oak Park are counterproductive and do not improve the quality of life for all residents, especially the poor. Moreover, the author perceives the occurrence of what are often referred to as “dilemmas of activism.” While these projects benefit the overall quality of life for the middle-class and promote a middle-class lifestyle, they in fact contradict their own objective, which is to improve the quality of life for the poor. Poor v
Page 1 and 2: COMMUNITY ACTIVISM IN OAK PARK: COM
Page 3: COMMUNITY ACTIVISM IN OAK PARK: COM
Page 7 and 8: DEDICATION For my parents Joe and I
Page 9 and 10: I would also like to thank Joyce Bi
Page 11 and 12: Neighborhood Association ..........
Page 13 and 14: Chapter 1 INTRODUCTION: STUDYING TH
Page 15 and 16: different from themselves, they dis
Page 17 and 18: known about the residents who are l
Page 19 and 20: contested racialized images of thei
Page 21 and 22: Although the anthropological litera
Page 23 and 24: Research Focus The research site of
Page 25 and 26: Association was also gaining attent
Page 27 and 28: in city environments is exposed in
Page 29 and 30: Moffat (1992:217) states, “if man
Page 31 and 32: Choldin and Hanson (1981:562) defin
Page 33 and 34: neighborhood. The neighborhood thus
Page 35 and 36: the various definitions of “commu
Page 37 and 38: The City Chapter 3 SETTING The city
Page 39 and 40: stratified, selective, and distance
Page 41 and 42: people living outside the neighborh
Page 43 and 44: studies have demonstrated that reli
Page 45 and 46: In 1889, the Oak Park Association s
Page 47 and 48: edevelopment projects elsewhere in
Page 49 and 50: een lured to Arts and Crafts style
Page 51 and 52: ig black sunglasses, khakis, and a
Page 53 and 54: poverty. They and their comrades wo
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undesirable consequences; it can pr
Page 57 and 58:
aiding in the dilapidation of the c
Page 59 and 60:
Different types of social change in
Page 61 and 62:
groups that are political and produ
Page 63 and 64:
problems, events, and initiatives.
Page 65 and 66:
Pertinent to the Neighborhood Assoc
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were to be the main participants in
Page 69 and 70:
members, students, and sympathetic
Page 71 and 72:
evitalization projects in the commu
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1990:138). Likewise, “The mission
Page 75 and 76:
eports of residents marching down t
Page 77 and 78:
Altheide and Michalowski (1999:476)
Page 79 and 80:
organizations is part of a broader
Page 81 and 82:
hours of the day and night and resi
Page 83 and 84:
At a particular Neighborhood Associ
Page 85 and 86:
I think the city is trying to make
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community they began an onslaught o
Page 89 and 90:
Rehabilitation programs would do a
Page 91 and 92:
“neighborhood” as one where the
Page 93 and 94:
were being made by middle-class res
Page 95 and 96:
efreshments and appetizers and maki
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For three months I performed a vari
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and spent their time trying to recr
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Convention Center in downtown Sacra
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more than two decades we have oppos
Page 105 and 106:
The surveys for the Women’s Needs
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these residents were also affected
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professor, who was also a Neighborh
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twenty other residents in May to ma
Page 113 and 114:
Most community members felt the sch
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coordinated with community revitali
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you sure you want to live here? Jus
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the community but are able to view
Page 121 and 122:
esidents have “rights to the city
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are activists and non-activists in
Page 125 and 126:
Ethnic entrepreneurs in American so
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such as milk, eggs, and toiletries,
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presence that would produce long-te
Page 131 and 132:
eneficial to one group may not be b
Page 133 and 134:
organizations conflict and tried to
Page 135 and 136:
social stratification in the commun
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class does not view the lifeways of
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them. And the middle-class don’t
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in low-income neighborhoods. Among
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improve the quality of life for res
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NOTES 1 Neighborhood “revitalizat
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20 The National Labor Federation (1
Page 149 and 150:
Altheide, L. David and Michalowski,
Page 151 and 152:
Boyd, Michelle Bridge, Gary 2005.
Page 153 and 154:
Ertll, J. Randy 2008. “Celebratin
Page 155 and 156:
Gupta, Akhil and Ferguson, James 19
Page 157 and 158:
Jenkins, Timothy 1994. “Fieldwork
Page 159 and 160:
Lee, A. Barrett, Spain, Daphne, and
Page 161 and 162:
Marwell, P. Nicole 2004. “Privati
Page 163 and 164:
Nylund, Katarina Oropesa, S. R 2001
Page 165 and 166:
Rosenhall, Laurel 2005. “Charter
Page 167 and 168:
Simpson, M.A. Lee 2004. Images of A
Page 169 and 170:
Thacher, David 2001. “Conflicting
Page 171:
Wolch, R. Jennifer 1980. “Residen
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