On October 5 we welcomed SUNY Albany professor Johanna Londoño to present our annual Greer Lecture in Latin American History. Londoño discussed her latest book, Abstract Barrios: The Crisis of Latinx Visibility in U.S. Cities, which covers the topics of who Latinizes cities and who's behind the built space and barrio life in these cities.

Londoño focuses on built environments being a crucial element for manipulating Latinx exclusion and inclusion in U.S cities. In her book she refers to three main cities, New York City, Santa Ana (CA), and her hometown Union City (NJ). In one of her chapters she discusses how she saw first-hand abstractions from Latinx business owners and city officials in Union City. These owners and officials dismissed barrio life and culture on the street in order to appeal to gentrifiers. With this she compares Union City to the gentrified neighborhoods in New York City and Santa Ana.

In concluding her talk about her book, Londoño mentions in what manner this book foregrounds the role of those individuals with the power to shape built environments: the designers, business owners, and public officials. She states, “It's in looking at these individuals - these powerful individuals - and at the various locations and moments of crisis that they operate in that I am able to reveal how Latinx visibility in barrios has been made key to the cyclical nature of U.S capitalist urbanism.”

Watch the full recording of Londoño’s Lecture.