Mapping the city from below: Approaches in charting out Latinx historical and quotidian presence in metropolitan Los Angeles: 1990–2020

Abstract

How do marginalized ethnic communities assert their presence in the American urban space? This article examines maps and location descriptions found in ‘Rock Angelino’ concert flyers, lyrics of songs, and spoken word multimedia pieces as examples of ‘mapping from below’ practices from the 1990s to the near present, which Latinxs have used to place themselves in the historical geography and cultural imaginary of Los Angeles. While people of Latin American descent have been part of Los Angeles since its founding, their presence has often been neglected and diminished in the maps created by government agencies, and in more recent times, by gentrifying real estate enterprises that inaccurately portray the past and present of Los Angeles as a White space with few selective geographical locations of communities of colour. By employing critical geography and cultural history methodologies, this piece demonstrates how Latinxs have been cartographers of their own communities. Most significantly how Latinxs employed their words and sounds as mapping tools with which to chart, examine, narrate and make visible the rich layered histories of Latinxs and communities of colour in Southern California.