Gentrification, Art and Situationism: How Neighbourhoods are Moulded

Written for a college blog. Link to that article can be found here.

Bushwick, a neighbourhood in Brooklyn, New York, was a manifestation of every cliché surrounding late 20^th century Black America. Being a hotbed of the megapolis’ crack epidemic does not begin to scrape the surface – Bushwick being the site of rabid fires that raged for weeks on end, Even in the aftermath of these events, Bushwick was known as a site for regular mugging, rape and murder (Craine, 2016).

Fast forward a couple of decades, Bushwick is now the cultural heartland of millennial America – sourdough pizza, street art for days, and thriving electronic music found on every block. The neighbourhood is unrecognisable from it’s previous character. It now prides itself on diversity, and a romantic sense of uniqueness(Odyssey, 2017).

Traffic: A Film Review

A short analysis of the film Traffic. Link can be found here.

Traffic: Mixed Signals

“I view great cities as pestilential to the morals, the health, and the liberties of man.” (Jefferson, 1800).

Even though certain rural areas of countries across the world exhibit ‘conspicuous inequality’, the schism between rich and poor is most evident in the city (Gugler, Gilbert, 1982, p125). Immigrants from bucolic settings to urban ones may be content with their relative improvement in social status and the prospects of a better future, however residents born and raised in urban settings experience severe relative deprivation when they witness other urban-dwellers prospering. This discontent breeds crime.

 

Traffic, the fragmented agglomeration, discusses the repercussions of the aforementioned urban disparity that creates an undeniable proclivity toward deviance. The following analysis will trace how the entire movie – from its casting to its content – revolves around how we are made to put faith in half-stories – an occurrence that is frightening.

 

The characterization in the film was run-of-the-mill. Its skewed attempts at racial and ethnic diversity were paltry. The roles portrayed by ethnic characters were as per existing stereotypes and the casting can be justified in that manner, however it would have been interesting to explore characters outside their expected positions. This was typified by several of the protagonists – be it the pairing of the black and Hispanic FBI Agents (done repeatedly in films like Bad Boys, and TV shows like Castle) or the trophy wife who takes hardship in her stride, there lacked a sense of innovation within the characterization department. No doubt, the mental connection formed as you see the character and their usual role in society does make understanding more lucid, however that in itself is problematic is it is indicative of how propagandic stereotypes are deeply ingrained within our minds. If anything, the film perpetuates such stereotypes.

 

The cinematic quality of differential landscapes that was orchestrated through location based filters reinforced above said stereotypes. The scenes shot in Mexico, with their sepia filter, exuded unesasiness, fever and hostility in a direct fashion. While these were essential parts of the plot, they pre-create an image of the country as unwelcoming. In direct contrast to this, the filter for the American metropolitan region of Cincinnati was a lo-fi pale blue. This created a sultry, banal and haunting atmosphere – a very drug induced lucidity that is symbolic of the plot line weaved through that region.

 

Moving on toward understanding crime and deviance through the film, we must define such concepts. At a very basic level, a crime “is an act committed or omitted in violation of Public Law forbidding or commanding it.” (Blackstone, 1765). It is an act that goes against the existing law of the land and is thereby punishable in a court of law. The offender is liable to not just the state, but also the entity against whom the crime was committed. The drawback with this definition is its reliance on homogeneity. What is a crime for a particular social context which has experienced relatively uniform socialization may be a cherished undertaking in a different social context, as tends to be the case with white-collar crimes and the like. There is no plenitude when it comes to defining or demarcating a crime, it is wholly dependent on the individual’s unique mélange of experiences, opinions and ideologies.

 

Through the film, we are constantly exposed to a version of crime that vilifies drug dealers and traffickers. There exists a discernible bias in the manner in which demand and supply are treated. Unfortunately, there was little addressal of how and why individuals (usually of color) are forced into such trades. It romanticizes the profitability of drug dealing but fails to comment on the fact that it would not be the first choice of profession for any individual due to the high-stakes, high-risk nature of it.

“You are now about to witness the power of street knowledge” – NWA

In the USA, Metropolitan Statistical Areas have 18% more crime than other cities and 300% more crime than sylvan areas (Glaeser, Sacerdote, 1996, p2). While critics argue that this mammoth difference between rural and urban crime rates is due to reporting biases that exist, murder rates, which are considered to be free of reporting biases, exhibit similar variation (Gugler, Gilbert, 1982, p125).

 

Crime is not endemic to the urban context however the nature of these visible crimes and their combating creates an atmosphere even more conducive to crime. Murder, even in the chaotic pace of city life, is the most visible form of violence and crime. Other acts on the list include rape, burglary, grand theft auto and petty larceny. These are physical and perceptible, and thus can be apprehended by the set mechanisms. A common misconception is that visible crimes are the be all and end all of criminality. Although they do comprise a significant chunk of cases, a disproportionately large segment of law enforcement is dedicated to the apprehension of the most visible of crimes. The dedication of large parts of policing forces to tackling this variety of criminality, places run-of-the-mill citizens under the illusion that their government is actively striving toward protecting its people, which is what takes place in Traffic. It valorizes these drug-resisting government forces, and while their cause is noble, more emphasis on why individuals are forced into drug dealing would go a long way.

 

The ample demand for the morally reprehensible (drugs, prostitutes and gambling) gives impetus to potential petty criminals in the city. These criminals are typically non-violent when operated unaccompanied by other crimes and are rarely considered more than neighborhood scum. As discussed earlier, these victimless crimes receive a large section of the law-officials’ attention.

 

The film disassociates drug dealers and users’ motives from their actions. Even though the white protagonist (Wakefield) very heroically quits his reputed, prestigious job in order to take care of his daughter (Caroline), the film does not comment on why the teenager was on drugs in the first place and how and why people had the ability and opportunity to sell said drugs to her. The plot suggested that demand side policy begin and end at treatment, therapy and support groups. It did not even begin to trace the ‘demand for supply’ as to how drug dealers found themselves in this position. If anything, the activity was vilified. Drug dealing, for larger society, is a deviant activity. Considering a micro-society of black individuals, the deviance tag would be inappropriate. There is a racial element attached to the allocation of resources which culminates in these criminal activities.

Another point that was out of the purview of the film is the incongruencey between punishments given to different drug users: crack (which is what Caroline was using – a free base form of cocaine) and cocaine in its pure form, are punishable in the ratio 18:1. This ratio was 100:1 until 2010 (Lumen-Learning, 2018). The reason this is interesting is as crack is cheaper and more readily available. It has been, for eternity, associated with urban black youths, whereas cocaine itself is a hard drug used by white-collar employees in high-stress environments. The film “Wolf of Wall Street” romanticizes such atmospheres and depicts the normalized usage of such a drug. It is odd to note how and why such an imbalance exists – it can be attributed to the kind of users of such drugs. The elite and powerful will vilify and incriminate black inner-city residents for smoking crack (such as Caroline’s dealers), while cocaine-snorting government officials (perhaps like Wakefield’s colleagues) roam nearly scot-free.

 

All in all, Traffic makes for a thrilling couple of hours of high-octane yet poignant drama. It is a brilliantly produced and directed film. Its repute only begins to wane when one looks to analyze the sociological ramifications of the film. It is problematic from the conflict perspective as it looks at ephemeral solutions to the problem, rather than addressing the larger picture of incommensurately distributed power and resources which leads to the discussed crime and deviance. It is not expected of Hollywood to understanding class conflict, yet it is imperative to understand that Traffic as social commentary on the Modern Day War on Drugs paints an image with a plethora of race, class and social issues.

References

Blackstone, W (1765). Commentaries on the Laws of England. Clarendon Press.

Bobko and Day (2016). Terrorism and Political Violence Risk Map. Aon Risk Solutions.

Bonger, W. (1916). Criminality and Economic Conditions. American Institute of Criminal Law and Criminology.

Chomsky, N (1994). Secrets, Lies and Democracy. Odonian Press.

Croall, H (2001). Understanding White Collar Crimes. Open University Press.

Fajnzybler, Lederman and Loayaza(2001). Inequality and Violent Crime. The Journal of Law and Economics.

Gilbert, Gugler (1982). Cities, Poverty and Development : Urbanization in the Third World. Oxford University Press.

Glaeser, Sacerdote (1996). Why is there More Crime in Cities. National Bureau of Economic Research.

Giddens, Sutton (1989). Sociology. Polity Press.

Jefferson, T (1800). The Papers of Thomas Jefferson, vol. 32.Princeton University Press.

Learning, L. (n.d.). Reading: Conflict Theory and Deviance. Retrieved January 17, 2018, from https://courses.lumenlearning.com/alamo-sociology/chapter/reading-conflict-theory-and-deviance/

Liazos, A (1972). The Poverty of the Sociology of Deviance: Nuts, Sluts and Perverts. Social Problems, Volume 20, Number 1.

Pearce, F (1976). Crimes of the Powerful : Marxism, Crime and Deviance. Pluto Press.

Sutherland, Edwin H. (1949). White Collar Crime. Holt, Rinehart & Winston.

 

 

New York City and Tourism

A piece on perhaps my favourite city in the world, New York City, and its role as a tourist destination. Link to the piece can be found here.

New York City: Concrete Jungle where Dreams are Made of
“New York, you’re perfect, oh, please don’t change a thing” (Murphy, Mahoney, Pope, 2007)
Without a doubt the poster boy of urbanity, modernity and the perfect antidote to monotony, New York City is an experience in itself. Composed of several boroughs, each with a distinct flavor and identity, New York exemplifies the melting pot hypothesis where a multitude of cultures, ethnicities and races coalesce into a single metropolitan area – coexisting, growing and breathing as units that are heterogeneous within yet homogenous in their being.
Before delving into analyzing New York City’s tryst with tourism sociologically, a little context is required. The city receives over 60 million tourists, international and domestic, every year, as of 2016 (Sugar). This puts the city as the fifth most visited city in the world, behind the European behemoths of London and Paris, and expatriate powerhouses of Dubai and Bangkok. Quite like most parts of the United States of America, New York City’s very existence is a mere two or three centuries old and lacks the old-world charm offered by Europe – be it cities like Prague or Rome, or smaller countryside towns. We can thus conclude that New York City’s rise as a tourist destination has been parallel to the USAs increased hegemony, one that began at the turn of the 20th century. New York City’s glory lies not in any heritage sites or profound historical culture, it lies in its unfathomable pace and its mammoth scale.
There is much documentation that testifies to New York City’s agglomeration of romance. Be it music (Jay-Z and Alicia Key’s Empire State of Mind), film (the seminal sequel, Home Alone 2: Lost in New York) or literature (Nick Allbrook’s “Creative Darwinism”), New York City has come to be a city frenetic in nature yet spirited unlike any other. It has been the birthplace for a wide variety of music genres – from the indie rock movement of the early 2000s typified by the Strokes, or East Coast rap from Harlem, the banality of the financial capital of the world provides the perfect backdrop for some of art’s proudest movements. This juxtaposition is another feature of New York that sets it ahead of the pack. Being both the financial capital of the world – Wall Street being ubiquitous as an indicator of the global economy – and what is termed as a “cultural capital” by Allbrook makes the city rife with gleaming corporate bigwigs drinking $7 coffee in a building with street art plastered all over. It is a dichotomy in itself – with blacks, whites, Muslims and Jews synchronized well into one another’s lives.
It is these dichotomies and contrasts that make New York City a tourist destination unlike any other – although it has its fair share of sights (Statue of Liberty, Times Sqaure, and the Empire State Building) – its attraction lies in being static and observing a city so dynamic. From a functionalist point of view, and from a tourist’s point of view, New York City ticks all the boxes. It provides tourists a plethora of cliché experiences and sufficient and more photo-ops, fulfilling their expectations of a tour. These occurrences are enabled by the simultaneous functioning of a plethora of complex systems – the tourists themselves, tour operators, airlines, public transport systems, urban planners and the local New Yorkers. Even though the visit of the tourist may be transient, their presence tends to solidify and fine-tune the relationships among all other elements – fostering a Durkheimian organic solidarity. All the above elements have distinct, dissimilar roles that work in harmony in order to create an atmosphere conducive to the tourist’s arrival and enjoyment. Another facet of Durkheim’s theory that can be applied to New York City is the sacred-profane distinction. What is profane to the local New Yorkers, such as the ubiquitous metro system, is sacred to several tourists. Tourists, especially from countries with poorly developed local infrastructure, are enthralled by the mesh of multicolored lines that traverse the length and breadth of the city. Another example of the same can be Central Park, which is romanticized greatly by tourists and considered sacred, while to the locals, the Park is a place of daily exercise or relaxation. Unlike most small tourist destinations, local New Yorkers seem to be unbothered by the presence of these non-natives. The manic pace of the city envelopes locals and tourists alike.
Analyzing the tourism industry in the tri-state area from a conflict narrative is quite appropriate given the vicinity to the obscenity of the helm of the capitalist world. While New York’s allure is undoubtedly due to its status as the stalwart of all things urban, the idea of New York has been manufactured and commodified in a great manner. In a Chomskyian sense, the American Dream has been marketed impeccably. Through popular television shows (Seinfeld, Castle, Friends) and through the dirt cheap “I ❤ NY” shirts, the city itself has been commodified. Another more sinister manifestation of this widespread commodity fetishisation has taken place in a part of New York that was until the turn of the millennium known for crack addiction and ethnic Armenian neighborhoods (Rascoff and Humphries, 2015). The borough of Brooklyn has seen massive gentrification take place over the last couple of decades. Gentrification, like tourism, is considered neo-colonialism, and there exists a frightening marriage of the two. Bushwick, a gentrifying neighborhood, is known for its street art collectives that moved in as rents in neighboring Williamsburg rose. In an unprecedented turn of events, certain white individuals have set up “street art tours” that locals refer to as “ghetto tours”. These tours are given not by the artists themselves, but by third party, profit hungry individuals to “travelers” (not tourists, these are individuals who go off the beaten path in order to fall for capitalist schemes that provide them with the illusion of authenticity) who are clad in North Face jackets, wielding Nikon DSLRs and wearing Converse(Glazma, 2017). All this in a neighborhood where walking alone at night can mean getting jumped. Tourism allows the commodification and the capitalization of what was a cathartic expression of local unity by a powerful few seeking to earn profits, not giving heed to the identity and status of the neighborhood they are offering these curated experiences. The façade of curated packages is one that the modern day, well educated and young tourist falls for. Marketed in a manner that avoids the mainstream tourist destinations, these packages will take tourists to small, off-beat spots in Chinatown, Brooklyn and elsewhere, so as to explore the city in a manner that a “tourist” (used commonly as a pejorative) does not.
It is abundantly clear that tourism is a thriving commercial industry for New York, yet the effect that this has on the daily lives of non-tourism locals is not very profuse. Thus, the functional relation between tourists and locals remains weak and non-afflictive. Tourists will tend to be enraptured by the locals engaged in the tourism industry, as their abundance and their personas are quite magnetic. Tourists must be aware that more often than not their eagerness is part of a profit making endeavor, and is simply a ploy. Thus we can see that New York City, unlike several other tourist destinations, does not have an explicitly detrimental or controversial tourist-local relation (barring, of course, instances like Bushwick). New York City, is, and will continue to be, considered the greatest city on earth. Whether this tag is justified or another well-executed marketing strategy is open to debate.

Ethnic Conflict in Maharashtra

A short piece on ethnic conflict in my home state of Maharashtra, and the role that the Shiv Sena plays in it. Link to the piece can be found here.

Introduction

Ethnicity and ethnic conflict are often malaproposised terms that require ballpark at least, if not rigorous defining, before they are analyzed so as to limit the scope of this analysis to only those matters pertaining to the topic at hand.

Ethnicity, as suggested by Horowitz, is a sense of collective belonging that is based on a specific commonality. Descent, language, history, culture, race or religion can be the analogous binding (Varshney, 2003). Several scholars further this interpretation by speaking of a shared consciousness that emerges from the aforementioned characteristics, an intangible force that heightens and hardens this ethnic identity (Priya, 2016).

Ethnic conflict is a pluralistic inevitability (Varshney, 2003). It is a feature of vibrant, expressive democracies and is healthy for as long as it remains within the parameters of the existing polity. Debates, dissent and discourse in intra and inter ethnic forums is constructive and cathartic. What may be cathartic but is definitely not constructive is ethnic violence, a subset of ethnic conflict. Violence that stems from these primordial based-ethnic tensions is often led by a larger ethnic group asserting its identity or ideology on a particular, or combination of particular ethnic groups smaller in size or influence. This violence can be further categorized into a host of terms, such as riots, pogroms or civil wars.

Through this analysis, the dynamics, motives and manifestations of ethnic strife and tension will be brought out, using the backdrop of Maharashtra, a relatively well-off, industrialized state in Western India.

Ethnic Players in Maharashtra

Borrowing from Caselli and Coleman’s fantastic game theoretic model on ethnic conflict, a tangible economic basis for the current status-quo in Maharashtra can be made. The game involves two ethnic groups and a limited amount of resources available in the shared geographic proximity. One player has a higher human capital than the other. This capital is not strictly in terms of quantum, but in terms of access to resources, sphere of influence and general power. An example of this would be Apartheid in South Africa, where the Blacks had the undeniable majority in terms of numbers, however lacked the power to have substantial human capital over the Whites. While the model speaks of how ethnic violence is inherently detrimental to not just the general well-being of society but also to both actors themselves, as with all game theory models, it is based on rationality, a concept relatively unpopular in sociology (Caselli and Coleman, 2001).

In Maharashtra, the dominant ethnic group is the homogenous Marathi-speaking, caste Hindu population. This identity is typified by a single political party, the Shiv Sena. From its nascence in 1966, the primary motive of the Shiv Sena has been the protection of the ‘Marathi Manoos’, the ‘Sons of the Soil’ (Palshikar, 2004). All other ideologies and motives are contingent splinters on their primary driving force. To ensure the economic and social protection of the Marathi populace, language and culture, the Sena’s opponents began to burgeon.

On the initial receiving end of the Sena’s anger were the South Indians and the Gujaratis, who were accused of being the primary recipients of jobs that the Marathis deserved. South Indian restaurants and citizens were harassed, quite possibly due to their proximity to the heartland of the movement, Dadar (Gaikwad, Nellis,2016).This regarded ethnicity as justification for economic dissatisfaction.

Another prevailing hypothesis, similarly, uses ethnicity as a mean, rather than an end. With several mills in Bombay (as it was then called) shutting shop in the 1970s and 80s, their came a steep decline in the power that Labor Unions wielded. However, at the peak of textile production in the late 60s, congruent to when the Sena rose to prominence, there was academic backing to the Sena’s rhetoric regarding how Marathi jobs have been lost. This led to the Sena flexing its muscle once again, this time directed at the Left parties, who seeked to protect the rights of all workers equally. On June 6, 1970, members of the Shiv Sena murdered the sitting MLA, who was a CPI member. This was culmination of a reign of terror that the Shiv Sena perpetuated, destroying property of the then existing-Left labor unions (Dhawale, 2000).

With the Labor Unions crushed and the textile market itself fading, their rose a power vacuum in the unskilled labor market. The protection, security and unity that a Union provides no longer existed, creating an emotional and economic void among workers, which was capitalized on by the Sena. The Sena exploited this schism and mobilized workers against ethnic groups who posed a threat to the existing Marathi culture.

While the economic appeal of ‘Shivaji’s Army’ is clear, there is an added element of jingoism and nationalism that created a multifaceted base for the Sena. By promoting Hindutva ideals such as castedness, homogeneity and unwritten eugenics, the Sena created fostered a collective identity caused by economic conditions, but manifested in a socio-political manner. In the aftermath of their consistently terrible electoral performances, capped off by their drubbing in the 1985 Lok Sabha and Assembly Elections, large scale recruitment and organization took place through the state, with an active on-ground, door-to-door campaign reinforcing the Sena’s political motives.

What was initially anti-incumbent resentment, slowly transformed into a solid anti-migrant stance. This has been, in the recent past, directed at North Indian migrants who move to Mumbai, in pursuit of their dreams, however wind up as low-paid, low-skilled workers. To make this opinion more fervent and divisive, the Sena brought in ethno-linguistics.

In a famed campaign held in the 21st century, the Sena ordered all commercial establishments to have a signboard spelling the name of the establishment in Marathi(Menon, 2012). The economic fight had taken a linguistic turn, with several shops being picketed and trashed if they lacked this sign. This is visible even today, with Marathi-slang graffiti laden shutters lacing all seven islands of Mumbai, including the posh South Mumbai segments. It is safe to say that an aggressive form of protectionism is one that typifies the Sena, however this protectionism became increasingly juxtaposed against the normalcy of other ways of life. The Sena has grown into an invasive, all-encompassing social, political and economic hydra that controls large part of the lives of all Mumbaikars. This crass manifestation was exemplified in the Sena’s activities in the late-2000s, where members of the party disrupted Valentine’s day celebrations across the city(Palshikar, 2004). While there are several reservations one can have against the celebration of Valentine’s day, it is unacceptable to engage in ‘cultural policing’ with absolute impunity, accosting and intimidating innocent couples. The many double-standards of the Party are shown through instances like this, advocating an anti-Western, Hindu-puritan stance, yet actively organizing pop-concerts my artists like Michael Jackson. These hypocrisies go unnoticed by the electorate, who seem unfazed by these multiple contradictions.

The Sena is now revered as a strategic partner for several national-level parties, a sign of their growing influence in the political spheres across the country. In no way is this an indication that the Shiv Sena will thrive in other states, it simply a reinforcement of the stranglehold that the Party has over Maharashtra. These alliances will play an important role in the years to come, especially as other Hindutva parties come to the fray, a situation where two parties promoting a similar form of Puritanism exist. Another facet of the Sena’s malleable public image has come up with the new cadre of leaders. Grandson of the founder, Aditya Thackeray is a charismatic, approachable and relatable leader. He is very involved in targeting the burgeoning middle-class, with several campaigns addressing themes like sports in schools, fighting for restaurants to be open all night and organizing music festivals. These endeavors endear him to a previously untapped electorate. He is articulate and charming- however he does not exude power and control as his grandfather did. There remains little much to be said about the appeal and reach of the party, which have been established through their stellar performances in the elections as well as their ability to bring Mumbai to a standstill in the matter of seconds.

It is essential to ruminate over whether the Sena’s ideology is a lasting one. While remaining agnostic toward the Sena, it is undeniable that their appeal is going to widen in the years to come. Condoned by a Hindi-jingoist party at the helm, the Sena will receive tacit support to continue their factitious behavior. A common critique of the Sons of the Soil concept is that the Marathi’s were too, at one point, non-natives. This is fallacious simply because that invalidates any form of geographical ethnicity. It is a juvenile argument simply because it can be distilled down to the fact that all humans were native to a single part of the world, nullifying any historic geographic differences (Forsberg, 2009).

Personally, I reject any form of pluralism and heterogeneity, and thus I am of the opinion that the Shiv Sena’s Marathi-first ideology is well-justified and culmination of economic hardship that has befallen a specific community. In no way do I condone any violent activities, yet it is a lesson in mobilization to observe how the Sena has grown from strength to strength in the past few decades. Protectionism, anti-diversity sentiments and populism have been validated by trends across the world, from Duterte in the Philippines to Trump in America, and will continue to be a reaction to the economic abandonment of the masses.