South Central Dreams

Race, place, and identity in a changing urban America Over the last five decades, South Los Angeles has undergone a remarkable demographic transition. In South Central Dreams, eminent scholars Pierrette Hondagneu-Sotelo and Manuel Pastor follow its transformation from a historically Black neighborhood into a predominantly Latino one, providing a fresh, inside look at the fascinating—and constantly changing—relationships between these two racial and ethnic groups in California. Drawing on almost two hundred interviews and statistical data, Hondagneu-Sotelo and Pastor explore the experiences of first- and second-generation Latino residents, their long-time Black neighbors, and local civic leaders seeking to build coalitions. Acknowledging early tensions between Black and Brown communities. they show how Latino immigrants settled into a new country and a new neighborhood, finding various ways to co-exist, cooperate, and, most recently, demonstrate Black-Brown solidarity at a time when both racial and ethnic communities have come under threat. Hondagneu-Sotelo and Pastor show how Latino and Black residents have practiced, and adapted innovative strategies of belonging in a historically Black context, ultimately crafting a new route to place-based identity and political representation. South Central Dreams illuminates how racial and ethnic demographic shifts—as well as the search for identity and belonging—are dramatically shaping American cities and neighborhoods around the country.

What many readers have wished for is now reality: a richly descriptive ethnography of street rappers. "Blowing up” refers to rappers’ dream of becoming rich and famous, or, at the least, successful as recording artists. Jooyoung Lee adds a shape to his story of Flawliis, VerBS, E. Crimsin, Psychosiz, and Tick-a-Lott: how do young black men from the inner city navigate their twenties? Blowin’ Up is a vibrant look at the young-adult stage of people who grow up in the shadow of gangs, dead-end jobs, and a glittering entertainment industry (the setting is Los Angeles). No other account of ghetto youth affords us this particular angle of vision. Lee discovers that in South Central L.A., rap can create bridges that bring young men together with peers from different neighborhoods (underscoring the importance of a healthy alternative to gangs). A rapper’s underground artistic career is rooted in battle skills and crowd appeal, and, to boot, is meritocratic (whereas mainstream career success is based on branding, timing, funding, networks, and gimmicks). Rapping is an embodied art--it takes much practice to learn, and requires body skills in dance, stance, and voice. Lee homes in on the skills and personalities of individual rappers, but he also illuminates the complex hip-hop scene around which these young men orbit, giving us detailed understandings of how young men navigate the intricate, tightly-wound world of tragedy and opportunity in the city. Lee balances the prospect of risk and existential uncertainty for youth entering a young adult life-stage with the hope for a big break in forging an entertainment career. In the end, Lee shows us how the arts can shape the lives of at-risk youth.

Race, place, and identity in a changing urban America Over the last five decades, South Los Angeles has undergone a remarkable demographic transition. In South Central Dreams, eminent scholars Pierrette Hondagneu-Sotelo and Manuel Pastor follow its transformation from a historically Black neighborhood into a predominantly Latino one, providing a fresh, inside look at the fascinating—and constantly changing—relationships between these two racial and ethnic groups in California. Drawing on almost two hundred interviews and statistical data, Hondagneu-Sotelo and Pastor explore the experiences of first- and second-generation Latino residents, their long-time Black neighbors, and local civic leaders seeking to build coalitions. Acknowledging early tensions between Black and Brown communities. they show how Latino immigrants settled into a new country and a new neighborhood, finding various ways to co-exist, cooperate, and, most recently, demonstrate Black-Brown solidarity at a time when both racial and ethnic communities have come under threat. Hondagneu-Sotelo and Pastor show how Latino and Black residents have practiced, and adapted innovative strategies of belonging in a historically Black context, ultimately crafting a new route to place-based identity and political representation. South Central Dreams illuminates how racial and ethnic demographic shifts—as well as the search for identity and belonging—are dramatically shaping American cities and neighborhoods around the country.

Naráyana’s best-seller gives its reader much more than “Friendly Advice.” In one handy collection—closely related to the world-famous Pañcatantra or Five Discourses on Worldly Wisdom —numerous animal fables are interwoven with human stories, all designed to instruct wayward princes. Tales of canny procuresses compete with those of cunning crows and tigers. An intrusive ass is simply thrashed by his master, but the meddlesome monkey ends up with his testicles crushed. One prince manages to enjoy himself with a merchant’s wife with her husband’s consent, while another is kicked out of paradise by a painted image. This volume also contains the compact version of King Víkrama’s Adventures, thirty-two popular tales about a generous emperor, told by thirty-two statuettes adorning his lion-throne. Co-published by New York University Press and the JJC Foundation For more on this title and other titles in the Clay Sanskrit series, please visit http://www.claysanskritlibrary.org

A long environmental history of the Aral Sea region, focusing on colonization and development in Russian and Soviet Central Asia.

Inner city communities in the US have become junkyards of dreams, to quote Mike Daviswastelands where gangs package narcotics to stimulate the local economy, gunshots occur multiple times on any given day, and dreams of a better life can fade into the realities of poverty and disability. Laurence Ralph lived in such a community in Chicago for three years, conducting interviews and participating in meetings with members of the local gang which has been central to the community since the 1950s. Ralph discovered that the experience of injury, whether physical or social, doesn t always crush dreams into oblivion; it can transform them into something productive: renegade dreams. The first part of this book moves from a critique of the way government officials, as opposed to grandmothers, have been handling the situation, to a study of the history of the historic Divine Knights gang, to a portrait of a duo of gang members who want to be recognized as authentic rappers (they call their musical style crack music ) and the difficulties they face in exiting the gang. The second part is on physical disability, including being wheelchair bound, the prevalence of HIV/AIDS among heroin users, and the experience of brutality at the hands of Chicago police officers. In a final chapter, The Frame, Or How to Get Out of an Isolated Space, Ralph offers a fresh perspective on how to understand urban violence. The upshot is a total portrait of the interlocking complexities, symbols, and vicissitudes of gang life in one of the most dangerous inner city neighborhoods in the US. We expect this study will enjoy considerable readership, among anthropologists, sociologists, and other scholars interested in disability, urban crime, and race."

In Material Dreams, Starr turns to one of the most vibrant decades in the Golden State's history, the 1920s, when some two million Americans migrated to California, the vast majority settling in or around Los Angeles. Although he treats readers to intriguing side trips to Santa Barbara and Pasadena, Starr focuses here mainly on Los Angeles, revealing how this major city arose almost defiantly on a site lacking many of the advantages required for urban development, creating itself out of sheer will, the Great Gatsby of American cities. He describes how William Ellsworth Smyth, the Peter the Hermit of the Irrigation Crusade, propounded the importance of water in Southern California's future, and how such figures as the self-educated, Irish engineer William Mulholland (who built the main aquaducts to Los Angeles) and George Chaffey (who diverted the Colorado River, transforming desert into the lush Imperial Valley) brought life-supporting water to the arid South. He examines the discovery of oil ("Yes it's oil, oil, oil / that makes LA boil," went the official drinking song of the Uplifters Club), the boosters and land developers, the evangelists (such as Bob Shuler, the Methodist Savanarola of Los Angeles, and Aimee Semple McPherson), and countless other colorful figures of the period. There are also fascinating sections on the city's architecture (such as the remarkably innovative Bradbury Building and its eccentric, neophyte designer, George Wyman), the impact of the automobile on city planning, the great antiquarian book collections, the Hollywood film community, and much more. By the end of the decade, Los Angeles had tripled in population and become the fifth largest city in the nation. In Material Dreams, Kevin Starr captures this explosive growth in a narrative tour de force that combines wide-ranging scholarship with captivating prose.