Expressions of membership and belonging : Chicana/o cultural politics in Barrio Logan

This thesis explores the spatial and cultural politics of Barrio Logan in the City of San Diego, California. Barrio Logan is a global seaport neighborhood located north of the Thirty-Second-Street U.S. Naval base and is the first residential neighborhood south of Downtown San Diego. Since its inception this neighborhood has experienced radical transformations in its built environment. In this thesis, I argue that the reconfiguration of urban space and land use in Barrio Logan by powerful State and private actors has not gone uncontested. Cultural and political resistance to urban marginalization processes is discussed in relation to the political activism of community members as they transform their social environment. Chicana/o community artists and activists have strategically employed Chicana/o cultural identity markers as forms of social and environmental justice activism.