Research Catalog

Title

Loisaida as urban laboratory : Puerto Rican community activism in New York / Timo Schrader.

Author

Schrader, Timo

Publication

Athens : The University of Georgia Press, [2020]

Items in the Library & Off-site

Details

Description

xiv, 186 pages : illustrations; 24 cm.

Summary

"Loisaida as Urban Laboratory is the first in-depth analysis of the network of Puerto Rican community activism in New York City's Lower East Side from 1964 to 2001. Combining social history, cultural history, Latino studies, ethnic studies, studies of social movements, and urban studies, Timo Schrader uncovers the radical history of the Lower East Side. As little scholarship exists on the roles of institutions and groups in twentieth and twenty-first-century Puerto Rican community activism, Schrader enriches a growing discussion around alternative urbanisms. Loisaida was among a growing number of neighborhoods that pioneered a new form of urban living. The term Loisaida was coined, and then widely adopted, by the activist and poet Bittman "Bimbo" Rivas in an unpublished 1974 poem called "Loisaida" to refer to a part of the Lower East Side. Using this Spanglish version instead of other common labels honors the name that the residents chose themselves to counter real estate developers who called the area East Village or Alphabet City in an attempt to attract more artists and ultimately gentrify the neighborhood. Since the 1980s, urban planners and scholars have discussed strategies of urban development that revisit the pre-World War II idea of neighborhoods as community-driven and ecologically conscious entities. These "new urbanist" ideals are reflected in Schrader's rich historical and ethnographic study of activism in Loisaida, telling a vivid story of the Puerto Rican community's struggles for the right to stay and live with dignity in its home neighborhood"--

Series Statement

Geographies of justice and social transformation ; volume 51

Uniform Title

Geographies of justice and social transformation ; v. 51.

Subjects

• City planning > Political aspects
• Hispanic American neighborhoods
• New York (State) > New York
• History
• 1900-1999
• New York (State) > New York > Lower East Side
• Puerto Ricans > Social conditions
• Puerto Ricans > Politics and government
• Puerto Ricans > Ethnic identity
• Politics and government
• Ethnic relations
• New York (N.Y.) > Ethnic relations
• Lower East Side (New York, N.Y.) > Politics and government > 20th century
• City planning > Political aspects > New York (State) > New York > History > 20th century
• Hispanic American neighborhoods > New York (State) > New York > History > 20th century
• Puerto Ricans > New York (State) > New York > Ethnic identity
• Puerto Ricans > New York (State) > New York > Social conditions > 20th century
• Puerto Ricans > New York (State) > New York > Politics and government > 20th century

Genre/Form

History.

Bibliography (note)

• Includes bibliographical references and index.

Contents

Viva Loisaida -- From dragons to the real great society -- Charas as pioneers of urban environmental activism -- Adopt a building and sweat equity urbanism -- Loisaida community murals as activism -- The battle against gentrification -- The resident dissidents of El Spirit Republic de Puerto Rico -- The joys of activism.

Call Number

JFE 21-1575

ISBN

• 9780820357980
• 0820357987
• 9780820357973
• 0820357979
• 9780820357997 (canceled/invalid)

LCCN

2020024736

OCLC

1143645083

Author

Schrader, Timo, author.

Title

Loisaida as urban laboratory : Puerto Rican community activism in New York / Timo Schrader.

Publisher

Athens : The University of Georgia Press, [2020]

Type of Content

text

Type of Medium

unmediated

Type of Carrier

volume

Series

Geographies of justice and social transformation ; volume 51

Geographies of justice and social transformation ; v. 51.

Bibliography

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Chronological Term

1900-1999

Research Call Number

JFE 21-1575