Barrio Dreams

The rapidly increasing situation of gentrification in East Harlem (and Harlem in general) is something that I have recently become very exposed to. Interning uptown in East Harlem with an organization that tackles this issue (among many others), reading Davila's book was something like an intellectualized version of a Monday afternoon at my job. (One of her picture inserts even includes a photo of my coworker's mom!) The issues that she talks about, from naming to self-naming to "marketable ethnicity"to the production of belief and adherence to certain ideals of capitalism are all, in my mind, on-point with what is occurring today. Her analysis of "slumlords" and the problems they produce for residents in the Barrio is also very accurate. I think that the idea of "slumlords" has become romanticized and fictionalized in the white spatial imaginary, so it's important that an intellectual piece like this, clearly intended for higher-educated people, speaks to the presentness of this reality.

The notion of "upward mobility" was one that I found especially interesting. Davila explains in her intro the ways that upward mobility is consumed as an ideology by people in the Barrio, and how that internalization of this ideal actually helps to destroy their neighborhood. She claims that oftentimes it is because the people are afforded a false sense of autonomy and mobility within larger structures that are designed to prevent such movement, and while I do think her point is very valid, I can't help but feel that this rhetoric strips the people in East Harlem of their agency, to a certain degree. It is important to point out the ways that people become duped by "the system," but I have found increasingly in my studies that it seems to be a challenge for most scholars to talk about victimization without making the victims sound completely powerless. She later remedies this by including testimonials and channeling the voices of multiple Puerto Rican activists in the community.

I found her analysis of culture and space especially powerful. Chapter 2, linked with some comments in the introduction, talk about how "ethnic" cultures are often detached from their histories in order to be prepared for and consumed by the mainstream. She says, "simply put, cultural enthusiasts were asking themselves about the price of recognition from general audiences, fully aware that it could potentially transform and 'mainstream' them along with the audiences they serve," (89), and references "cultural gentrification" (90). It is a fetishization, then, of Puerto Rican/Nuyorican culture that plays such a strong role in the cultural sale of El Barrio. Bringing it back home, I can clearly see the ways that this neighborhood is changing through the lens of her book. On my three block walk up Lexington from the 103rd St. station to 106th St, for example, there is a coffeeshop that is new, beautiful, funky, frequented by young white folks, but whose name promises authenticity: "El Barrio Cafe" is the name, I believe. On the other hand, I hear an acquaintance, born and raised in East Harlem, say that he enjoys the new, nice lounges in the neighborhood, because young adults from the community never really had a nightlife infrastructure before now. Does this make him complicit in gentrification, in the mainstream consumption and cultural selling of El Barrio? I think not, but perhaps Davila would think otherwise?