James Loucky

Facultad de Antropología

Western Washington University

Before and for nearly a century after its founding, El Pueblo de Nuestra Sra. de Porciúncola de los Angeles was a community typical of others in northern Mexico. With its incorporation into an expanding United States mid-19th century, and through mass immigration during the 20 century, Los Angeles developed into an ethnically mixed and segregated city. Global economic processes have continued to transform the city, including major financial investment, real estate speculation, burgeoning industrial and service sectors, and continued immigration to provide the labor for that growth. In recent decades, the numbers and proportions of Latino population have swelled, fueled by an influx of immigrants from other parts of Latin America besides Mexico, as well as from Asia. Today Los Angeles has been called metaphorically "the capital of the third world."

This presentation explores the dimensions and implications of the recent south-north movement. In addition to the transformations in demographic, economic, and social landscape, this immigration has provoked inter-ethnic tensions as well as collaborative interchange. Attention is given to prognoses for a bifurcated city, which some observers see as a fundamental characteristic of the new global cities, as well as to the complex policy implications that have emerged.