ABSTRACT
Chicana activists in Chicago are at the forefront of challenging environmental racism, rethinking conventional urban design practices, and advocating for environmental cleanup of contaminated land within Latino/a/x communities. Drawing on a 30-month ethnographic case study of grassroots organizing in La Villita, a predominantly working-class Mexican immigrant neighborhood of Chicago, and 14 interviews with local community organizers and residents, Gonzales highlights how Chicana activists draw on a history of women of color organizing to transform abandoned and blighted spaces through an asset-based framework she calls Chicana environmentalism. Using this asset-based framework, Chicana activists cultivate local knowledge, skills, and strengths as seeds for justice. This includes the work done by the women-led Little Village Environmental Justice Organization around the closure and reimagining of the Fisk & Crawford Coal Plants, the cleanup of a superfund site and its later transformation into a public park, and the creation of a community garden. These activists’ efforts have led to increased resident ownership over local land, and civic activity by both community-based organizations and residents. At the same time, the author argues that their actions showcase the ability and flexibility of Chicana-led grassroots organizations in addressing larger structurally and environmentally racist development policies at the city, rather than at the neighborhood, level.
