Noted USC professors provide insight into three different neighborhoods of Los Angeles, mobilizing Latinx pasts to better understand the future and rethink our understanding of democracy, community, and political power.
Panelists
- Pierrette Hondagneu-Sotelo is the Florence Everline Professor of Sociology at USC. She is a co-author of South Central Dreams: Finding Home and Building Community in South L.A., which takes a deep dive into the lives of first- and second-generation Latinx immigrants as they shape home and identity alongside their Black neighbors in South L.A., and explores the ways Latinx identity is shaped by Blackness.
- Natalia Molina is Distinguished Professor of American Studies and Ethnicity at USC and a 2020 MacArthur Fellow. Her book, A Place at the Nayarit: How a Mexican Restaurant Nourished a Community, traces her grandmother's Echo Park restaurant that served as an urban anchor for a robust community and a gathering space where ethnic Mexican workers and customers connected with their patria chica ("small country").
- George J. Sánchez is a professor of American Studies and Ethnicity and History at USC and the 2020–2021 President of the Organization for American Historians. His book, Boyle Heights: How a Los Angeles Neighborhood Became the Future of American Democracy, is a love letter to a vibrant, sometimes fragmented, yet deeply interconnected metropolis that shows how people's connection to community and neighbors can transcend time and historical change.
- Juan D. De Lara (moderator) is the director of the Latinx and Latin American Studies Center and an associate professor of American Studies and Ethnicity at USC. He is the author of Inland Shift: Race, Space, and Capital in Southern California.
