Barrio Dreams Puerto Ricans, Latinos, and the Neoliberal City Paperback - 2004

First line

In Bodega Dreams, Ernesto Quinonez's novel set in El Barrio, the hopeful protagonist Willie Bodega dreams of building a Latino professional class born and bred in El Barrio that, through cunning and politics, would lead all Latinos toward economic and political empowerment.

From the rear cover

"D�vila's keen insights into the politics of marketing ethnicity, community marginalization and class divisions cuts through neo-liberal postures to glaringly reveal the real issue - who will construct (and control) East Harlem's future? Well versed in the scholarship, D�vila has produced a book that is essential for understanding the increasingly important role and aspirations of Puerto Rican and Latino communities in New York's history."--Virginia S�nchez Korrol, author of From Colonia to Community: The History of Puerto Ricans in New York City

"Providing an expansive ethnographic portal into New York's famous 'El Barrio, ' Davila documents the ways in which the neighborhood's Latino cultures can be commodified as a magnet for gentrification as well as providing an obstacle to it. An absorbing read providing a unique contemporary perspective on East Harlem."--Neil Smith, author of American Empire: Roosevelt's Geographer and the Prelude to Globalization

"Unlike most ethnographers of the urban poor in search of authentic street experience, D�vila gives us an ethnography of power. With rich insights and sensitivity, she documents the pitched battles between developers, politicians, long-time residents, newcomers, Puerto Ricans, Mexicans, and African Americans over space, gentrification and cultural representation in East Harlem. D�vila peels back the many layers of local stories in order to reveal a complex, national story of resistance against urban neoliberalism."--Robin D. G. Kelley, author of Freedom Dreams: The Black Radical Imagination

Media reviews

Citations

• Choice, 02/01/2005, Page 1103
• Multicultural Review, 03/01/2005, Page 76