Focusing on the consequences of social and cultural displacement from commercial gentrification, this article examines the perspective of “early gentrifiers” decades after they moved into the neighborhood. Based on ethnographic data collected on the Lower East Side—a gentrified neighborhood with new bars—this article analyzes how new nightlife triggered early gentrifiers to weave a “nostalgia narrative” from their experiences. They use this narrative to construct a new local identity as the neighborhood's symbolic “owners,” which helps them in their collective action against bars. Their narrative, however, contains internal contradictions that reveal several issues with their new identity. I argue that a cultural analysis of early gentrifiers reveals significant social configurations in gentrified neighborhoods and informs us of the relationship between ideology and action.
Los pioneros del aburguesamiento urbano: creando una narrativa de la nostalgia en el Lower East Side (Richard E. Ocejo)
Resumen
Enfatizando las consecuencias del desplazamiento social y cultural resultantes del aburguesamiento urbano (“gentrification”), este artículo examina la perspectiva de los pioneros de dicho proceso (“early gentrifiers”) décadas después de haberse mudado a la comunidad. En base a datos etnográficos recogidos en el Lower East Side de la ciudad de Nueva York –un área aburguesada en la que se han instalado nuevos bares– este artículo analiza cómo la vida nocturna más reciente llevó a los pioneros del aburguesamiento urbano a entretejer una “narrativa de la nostalgia” a partir de sus experiencias. Los pioneros usan esta narrativa para construir una nueva identidad local como los “dueños” simbólicos del barrio, lo cual les ayuda en su acción colectiva contra los bares. Sin embargo, su narrativa contiene contradicciones internas que revelan la existencia de varios problemas con su nueva identidad. Mi argumento es que llevar a cabo un análisis cultural de estos pioneros revela la presencia de configuraciones sociales significativas en los barrios aburguesados y nos instruye sobre la relación entre ideología y acción.
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