Making the San Fernando Valley : rural landscapes, urban development, and White privilege / Laura R. Barraclough.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Barraclough, Laura R.

Series:

Geographies of justice and social transformation ; 3.

Geographies of justice and social transformation ; 3

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

White people--California--San Fernando Valley--History.

White people.

Landscapes--Social aspects--California--San Fernando Valley--History.

Landscapes.

Urbanization--California--San Fernando Valley--History.

Urbanization.

Social change--California--San Fernando Valley--History.

Social change.

Cultural pluralism--California--San Fernando Valley--History.

Cultural pluralism.

San Fernando Valley (Calif.)--Race relations.

San Fernando Valley (Calif.).

San Fernando Valley (Calif.)--Rural conditions.

San Fernando Valley (Calif.)--Geography.

San Fernando Valley (Calif.)--Social conditions.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (336 p.)

Edition:

1st ed.

Place of Publication:

Athens : University of Georgia Press, 2010.

Language Note:

English

Summary:

In the first book-length scholarly study of the San Fernando Valley-home to one-third of the population of Los Angeles-Laura R. Barraclough combines ambitious historical sweep with an on-theground investigation of contemporary life in this iconic western suburb. She is particularly intrigued by the Valley's many rural elements, such as dirt roads, tack-and-feed stores, horse-keeping districts, citrus groves, and movie ranches. Far from natural or undeveloped spaces, these rural characteristics are, she shows, the result of deliberate urbanplanning decisions that have shaped the Valley over the course of more than a hundred years. The Valley's entwined history of urban development and rural preservation has real ramifications today for patterns of racial and class inequality and especially for the evolving meaning of whiteness. Immersing herself in meetings of homeowners' associations, equestrian organizations, and redistricting committees, Barraclough uncovers the racial biases embedded in rhetoric about "open space" and "western heritage." The Valley's urban cowboys enjoy exclusive, semirural landscapes alongside the opportunities afforded by one of the world's largest cities. Despite this enviable position, they have at their disposal powerful articulations of both white victimization and, with little contradiction, color-blind politics.

Contents:

pt. 1. Creating the foundations of rural Whiteness, 1900-1960

Creating Whiteness through gentleman farming

Narrating conquest in local history

Producing Western heritage in the postwar suburb

pt. 2. Consolidating rural Whiteness, 1960-2000

Protecting rurality through horse-keeping in the northeast valley

Linking Western heritage and environmental justice in the west San Fernando Valley

pt. 3. Rural Whiteness in the twenty-first century

Urban restructuring and the consolidation of rural Whiteness

Beliefs about landscape, anxieties about change

"Rural culture" and the politics of multiculturalism.

Notes:

Bibliographic Level Mode of Issuance: Monograph

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN:

9786612892127

9781282892125

1282892126

9780820337579

0820337579

OCLC:

676699963