“D.C. is mambo sauce”: Black cultural production in a gentrifying city
Abstract
Abstract
Centering mambo sauce as both a cultural staple and a metaphor for struggles over ownership in Washington, D.C., this article explores mambo sauce’s role in constructing a D.C. identity. Drawing on data from ethnographic interviews and newspaper headlines, I argue that, against the background of intense and consistent gentrification that has left the city’s population younger, whiter, and wealthier, mambo sauce becomes a lens through which to examine larger tensions related to race, class, and power. Specifically, I examine mambo sauce as a form of Black cultural production to explore the dialectical relationship between how mambo travels well beyond the carryout restaurants in Black working-class neighborhoods and the displacement of Black residents in the gentrifying city.
Resumen
Centrando la salsa de mambo como un elemento culturalbásico y una metáfora de las luchas por la propiedad en Washington, D.C., esteartículo explora el papel de la salsa de mambo en la construcción de unaidentidad de D.C. Basándome en datos de entrevistas etnográficas y titularesde periódicos, sostengo que, en el contexto de una gentrificación intensa yconstante que ha dejado a la población de la ciudad más joven, más blanca y másrica, la salsa mambo se convierte en un lente a través del cual se puedenexaminar importantes tensiones relacionadas con la raza, la clase y el poder.Específicamente, examino la salsa de mambo como una forma de produccióncultural negra para explorar la relación dialéctica entre cómo el mambo viajamucho más allá de los restaurantes de comida para llevar en los vecindarios declase trabajadora negra y el desplazamiento de los residentes negros en laciudad en proceso de gentrificación.
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Biographies
Ashanté M. Reese is an assistant professor in Department of African and African Diaspora Studies, The University of Texas at Austin.
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Article first published online: October 15, 2020
Issue published: November 2020
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