In Search of Respect is a ground-breaking ethnography of East Harlem, which focuses on crack dealers in particular. Bourgois spent three and a half years living with crack dealers and learning about their struggles for survival. This study raises many key issues in terms of our understanding of cities, space and marginalisation. Feel free to share your comments about this book here, and hopefully we can get a good discussion going what we can learn from Bourgois’s study and from the lives of the crack dealers he is presenting.
In Search of Repect
March 4, 2013 · 2:23 pm
dividedcitieslums 
I think what what makes ‘In Search of respect’ really interesting is the fact that it’s a product of a detailed ethnography done by Bourgois. while reading his book one can really get involved in and imagine the situations/scenarios described by him.
The author talks about how some of the residents of East Harlem although earned a lot more than somebody working in the legal economy, but their upward social mobility was still limited due to lack of education and their being ‘black’.
Yes, Anam, race definitely played a role in their marginalisation along with other factors, which we could tie in with the readings by Wacquant and Wilson and Massey and Denton. One could argue that the creation of street culture provided an alternate forum in which some people in East Harlem could achieve a particular kind of upward social mobility.
I think Social and legal structure also plays some part in marginalizing. People living in Ghettos like “East Harlem” are alien to the outer world and the rules and regulations of the outer world. We do see a case when “Ray” seems to be confused by the processes which legalize his existence. Like asking writer to accompany him for Passport. It showed his fear towards the outer world, because he hasn’t been there. Same thing happened when “Ray” tries to open legal businesses. Legal structured seemed alien to him . These might be some reasons which forces them to marginalize. System outside their downtown seems hard to them.
This is very true. Many people lack the cultural capital to navigate the system outside of their locality, so that even if they want to be ‘legal’ they cannot.
also, one can link it to gendered segregation too. none of the people that Bourgois came across was a female. also, in chapter 3 it was mentioned that Felix handled all tasks single handedly, except for cooking cocaine; the task he gave to his wife, it is also interesting the way author said that he assigned it in “traditional patriarchal” manner. this is consistent with Massey’s reading on gender and space where she said that one of the two most obvious reasons behind gendered space is patriarchy
Good point. So far he has been moving around in a very male world. I think this will change as the book progresses, but I also think the spaces he is hanging around in are very masculine even if a few women are there.
This was just published in the New York Times today. These photos were taken in the late 60s amongst the African American community in Harlem, but I have a feeling little changed by the time Bourgois was doing his research. Check it out:
http://lens.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/03/05/gordon-parks-harlem-family-revisited/?hp
moving on to chapter 6 and 7 we can see how one theme Bourgois ties in with his discussion of family life is that of shifting gender power dynamics. While Bourgois was in El Barrio, the family structure and women’s rights were in transition. Patriarchy was on the decline, causing men to feel threatened and powerless. Bourgois is partially correct when he blames public sector breakdown for the family problems of El Barrio.Had she received welfare checks to feed her five kids, she might not have started selling drugs again and that too for a stranger.
Yes, this is something we were not able to discuss in class today, how the welfare system actually trapped people in a cycle of poverty and dependency, particularly women. How did the welfare system make it difficult for people to break out of their dependency on the illegal economy/abusive men and on the state itself?
There are several questions I wanted to discuss with regard to the conclusion today that I will post here:
– What is happening to income levels in the US and how does this relate to the increase in substance abuse?
– What do you think of Bourgois’s idea of decriminalising drugs? Do you think this will help bring down the problem of substance abuse or make it worse?
– How does the public sector need to be transformed in order alleviate the marginalisation of people living in hyper-ghettoes?
– Does Bourgois succeed in his goal of humanising the people he is representing in his book?
– Have things improved in El Barrio since Bourgois first wrote the book or does the cycle of poverty and violence continue?
Please do discuss these issues here (or I may have to devote a whole extra session to this book!). 🙂
Also, check out Bourgois’s website. Its full of information including loads more articles that he has written since In Search of Respect, which you could write about in your reflections if you were so inclined.
http://philippebourgois.net/
Primo and Ceasar slipped through the cracks in the formal education system. But I’m sure there are some (if very few) children they grew up with who did manage to do make it through school. However, this article describes how even students who do manage to overcome structural disadvantages to make it through school face similar disadvantages throughout their lives, like at the key junction of applying for college. Have a look:
“Arcane rules that keep low-income kids out of college” pub 23 Feb 2013 in The Atlantic.
http://www.theatlantic.com/national/archive/2013/02/the-arcane-rules-that-keep-low-income-kids-out-of-college/273440/
All these structural disadvantages remind of a comment Bourgois made in the introduction, about Ceasar, Ray and Primo having internalised the American Dream. I feel that, if anything, their lives question the ethos of the Dream. What do you think?