Images of Resistance

Abstract

Barrio Logan, San Diego, California, contains Chicano Park, a small parcel of land claimed in 1970 by community members. The park has since been recognized for its numerous Chicano murals. Our article analyzes two murals that speak on the issue of gentrification in the community and the dispossession that it leads to. We employ Alvesson and Willmott’s theory on emancipation, and specifically the term “microemancipations,” to examine how the Chicano community in Barrio Logan resists dispossession. We complicate the notion of emancipation, showing how murals sometimes facilitate resistance and, at other times, impede successful emancipation.