Review by Choice Review
Banh and King's anthology is a timely and multifaceted addition to Los Angeles studies and urban anthropology. Reminiscent of editors Raúl Villa and George Sánchez's Los Angeles and the Future of Urban Cultures (2005), the book focuses on contestations of power and space through public culture, agency, and memory. Threads of activism and intersecting identities run throughout the chapters, which range from the aftermath of the 1992 LA uprisings to the Great Wall of Los Angeles mural, urban agriculture, and models of community organizing. The book's methodological emphasis on ground-up ethnography (including autoethnography) is one of its greatest strengths, along with interventions into scholarship of the city that has largely drawn from archives, interviews, or literary works. Some chapters, however, could have benefited from greater historical context. While the introduction and conclusion adeptly explain theories of space that underpin the book, a clearer discussion of the organizational logic of chapters could help readers make better sense of the diverse topics of inquiry. That critique aside, this is a useful volume for students and scholars of postmodern urban landscapes, as well as practitioners seeking an introduction to the heterogeneity of Los Angeles. Summing Up: Recommended. All levels/libraries. --Jean-Paul deGuzman, UCLA
Copyright American Library Association, used with permission.
Review by Choice Review
