Ya no creemos en eso: Ideological impacts, racialized labor, and COVID-19 in the San Gabriel Valley restaurant industry

Abstract

The San Gabriel Valley is described in academic and popular discussions as an ethnoburb, given its significant Chinese and Asian diasporic population which impacts this region’s cultural, political, and economic composition. The culinary industry, specifically, has been central in capturing and marketing the authentic cultural appearance of this region. Nonetheless, while politics of authenticity drive this region the aim of this article is to uncover the essence of the San Gabriel Valley culinary industry, one that is inherently dependent on Latinx working-class immigrant labor. Specifically, in this project, I study how the COVID-19 pandemic uniquely impacted the Latinx immigrant restaurant workers in this region’s Chinese restaurants. Data collected comes from semi-structured interviews with Latinx immigrant restaurant workers and participant observation conducted with the Restaurant Opportunity Center-Los Angeles. Based on this research, I describe the racialized labor dimensions within the San Gabriel Valley restaurants and the inherent distrust of government aid by Latinx workers during the COVID-19 pandemic. Anchored in a critical political and economic framework, I argue for the expansion of the ethnoburb framework to center the ideological dimension of capitalism given that exploitation and oppression are central to the popularity of Los Angeles restaurants in general and to those in the San Gabriel Valley in particular. This institutionalized anti-immigrant violence facilitates low pay and precarious employment within the restaurants and the deliberate decisions by workers to avoid seeking government aid given a history of immigrant repression. Finally, this article has applications for nonprofit and government entities responsible for dispersing resources for the Latinx immigrant working class in the service sector and uncovering the labor realities within the San Gabriel Valley.