LA Rising

Kyeyoung Park is associate professor of anthropology and Asian American studies at the University of California, Los Angeles.

Based on extensive ethnographic fieldwork before and after the Los Angeles unrest in 1992, this study focuses on the relations among African Americans, Latinos, and Koreans in an area that was undergoing rapid demographic and economic changes. Race, class, citizenship, and culture were the axes in a "racial cartography" of structural inequality that impacted the hierarchical power relations and conflicts among the three groups. Illuminating and innovative, the insights here are highly pertinent to those interested in the future of race relations in this country.

• Part I: Korean, African, and Latin Americans in South Los AngelesIntroduction: Theoretical Interpretations of Ethnic TensionChapter 1: The Political Economy of Ethno-Racial Identities in South Los AngelesPart II: Black-Korean Tension Before the UnrestChapter 2: Disentangling “Race and Racism”Chapter 3: Culture, Race, and ClashChapter 4: Triangulating Class at the Crossroads of Race and Ethnicity Part III: Black, Latino, and Korean Relations after the Unrest: How Race and Ethnicity Have Become the Expresser of Changing Class Relations Chapter 5: Class Relations of SurveillanceChapter 6: Changing the Business Plan: Korean Merchants Try to Reintegrate into the South LA CommunityChapter 7: Ethnic Tension in the Aftermath: “Rebuilding LA without Liquor Stores”Part IV: ConclusionChapter 8: An Analysis of Latino-Korean Relations in the Workplace: Latino Perspectives in the Aftermath of the 1992 Los Angeles Civil Unrest Chapter 9: The Racial Cartography of Post-Unrest LA