Graduate Student, Department of Geography and Environment
Thesis Title: Segregation in search of an ideology?
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Sharad Chari
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About
In the history of Los Angeles, two identifiable forces are clear: the first that of whites to segregate and maintain segregation, the second that of people of colour to live wherever they choose. In trying to evaluate how fundamental these two forces have been in the formation of the city, this dissertation will look at how the historic struggle to desegregate has, with every victory, pushed the drive for separateness into new structural, ideological and spatial articulations that have steadily worked to remove more and more space and power from the public into the private sphere. I argue that Homeowner's Associations, Residential Community Associations and Business Improvements Districts (remembering that both RCAs and BIDs have been described as classic examples of privatisation and specifically neoliberal practice), are all part of this pattern. The spaces of segregation thus shaped have had huge impact on every resident, activist and academic in L.A. – as in other American cities – wherever they stand. In addition I argue that the inability of those struggling for desegregation to step outside the hegemonic discourse has limited and distorted every victory and allowed the opposing forces to simply open new avenues and shift or expand their ideological framework to maintain segregation. As a result, desegregation remains to be achieved, while privatisation is accelerating and there are increasing restrictions on democracy itself. This does not necessarily displace the idea of a neoliberal project, but it does challenge us to rework many critical theories on its origins and the manner of its rise, as well as how we theorise changing it.
