Racialization and Racism

There’s no sunshine: Spatial anguish, deflections, and intersectionality in Compton and South Central

Research on “territorial stigmatization” analyzes how residents of stigmatized spaces negotiate their blemished reputations. It reveals their distress, despondency, and resistance as they encounter the space’s negative imagery. Building on this research, this paper introduces the concept of spatial anguish to capture the shame and embarrassment residents feel because of their stigmatized space. To do so, it uses an intersectional analysis to show how anguished residents try to deflect the stigma through reinforcing racist and sexist imageries of their neighbors.

more articles from

Volume 35 Issue 4

Explore our Topics

Though not an exhaustive list, these are many of the main areas we cover.