Blogging Social Difference in L.A.: Week 7

"What does O.C. even stand for?"

Last weekend I went to Orange County to visit some extended family.  I can count how many times I've been to Orange County on one hand, so I was very unfamiliar with the area.  Because I grew up in Los Angeles, I've always envisioned Orange County as a one large homogenous suburb that emerged because of UC Irvine. My perspective changed once I read "The Emergence of Postsuburbia" by Kling, Olin, and Poster and they classify the county as a spatially, economically, ethnically, and socially segmented utopia.

As my family and I were touring the different cities within O.C. I attempted to explain to them the general concepts from the past week's lecture and the need to find a specific location for my project.  They then pointed out a specific section in Irvine commonly known as a heavy populated Asian center.  On the corner of Jamboree and Baranca, we stopped at a shopping center that only consisted of Asian restaurants, bakeries, and markets (pictured below). 

I had never seen such a racially segregated community as this other than Chinatown or Little Ethiopia in downtown L.A. I admit I found it to be an odd location to have such a high concentration of Asians and it raised some possible concerns.  I began to question if this community was voluntarily segregated, meaning that they all chose to live here because they shared similar culture, or if the community emerged because of oppression from other surrounding communities.  

The questions this community raises reflect the ideals of Stuart Hall from lecture.  Hall approaches race from a cultural standpoint.  Race is a cultural symbol, it signifies meanings that are produced in specific areas, at specific times, in specific places.  Cultural symbols tell of a community, in which tell of something larger.  In other words, Hall explains that race is a floating signifier, something seen as a value or meaning to people, but is not determinative of an individual's abilities.  Thus, what it means to be Asian today was not what it meant or represented 70 years ago.  

In regards to Stuart Hall, because race is historical I believe that this Asian community is voluntarily segregated. I say voluntarily because there was no apparent signs of oppression and the location was in a desirable middle class area.  The community was built off similar racial ties that all the residents desired to be a part of and experience together.

-Britt