Thursday, February 7, 2013 4:30 PM to 7:00 PM EST
Buchanan Hall, D005
Arlene Dávila, Anthropology and American Studies, NYU
Thursday, 7 February, 4:30 PM
Mason Hall D005
Culture Works: Consumption and the Business of Shopping Malls in Puerto Rico. Dávila critiques positions held by enthusiasts of “creative economies”: the idea that culture contributes to the GDP, employment, social cohesion, and other forms of neoliberal development. While culture does indeed make important contributions to national economies, the incentives and benefits of participating in this economy are not distributed equally. This is due both to restructurings that neoliberal policies have wrought as well as to long-standing inequalities based on race and class. In short, the cultural economy promises to make life better—particularly in cities—but not everyone can participate in its benefits. In her talk, Dávila examines dynamics of space, value, and mobility, to show how hierarchies of culture work play out in one setting with ultimately global implications: shopping malls in Puerto Rico.
Arlene Dávila is Professor of Anthropology and American Studies at NYU. Her research spans urban ethnography, the political economy of culture and media, creative economies and consumption, immigration and geographies of inequality and race. Recent books include Culture Works (NYU, 2012) and Latino Spin (NYU, 2008), which won the Latin American Studies Association’s prize for Best Book in Latino Studies.
Hosted by Latin American Studies, Film & Media Studies, Global Affairs, and Sociology & Anthropology.
Sponsored by Cultural Studies.
