Segregation

Marco Garrido, University of Chicago

I use the case of Manila to revise the classic conception of segregation in American urban sociology. The case leads us to expand our view of segregation in three important ways. First, we are better able to see segregation not just in terms of spatial concentration (that is, in terms of “ghettoes”) but in terms of the interspersion of socially distinct spaces (that is, in terms of the “slums” and upper and middle class “enclaves” in Manila). We shift focus from a type of space to a spatial relation. Second, we are better able to see the relations between the people inside segregated spaces and the people outside them not just in terms of social isolation but also in terms of socially unequal interaction. Such interaction has the effect of reinforcing boundaries. Third, we are better able to understand the effect of segregation not simply in terms of consolidation, where several parameters—mainly space, race, and poverty—combine in order to reinforce group inequality, but also in terms of spatialization, where the act of spatial segregation itself helps constitute group identity (where spatial boundaries, we might say, help define social ones, not just the other way around). These qualities/dynamics are not absent from American cities so much as overlooked given the prevailing conception of segregation. Looking at segregation in Manila, where these dynamics are salient, brings them into focus. By defining segregation more expansively, we are better able to capture the experience of urban residents in the Global South. We are also led to see American segregation in a new light.

No extended abstract or paper available

 Presented in Session 213. Reconceptualizing Urban Keywords from the Global South