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UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, MERCED Saving This Place: An Ethnography of Fresno, CA’s Fulton Mall by Doris Dakin Perez A dissertation submitted in partial completion of the degree of Doctor of Philosophy (Interdisciplinary Humanities: Anthropology & History) at the University of California, Merced 2019 Doctoral Dissertation Committee: Professor Robin Maria DeLugan, Chair Professor David Torres-Rouff Professor Jan Goggans Professor Anneeth Kaur Hundle © Doris Dakin Perez, 2019 X Robin M. DeLugan Associate Professor, Anthropology X David Torres-Rouff Associate Professor, History X Jan Goggans Associate Professor, Literature X Anneeth K. Hundle Assistant Professor, Anthropology iii Dedication This work is dedicated to my father Edward Perez, the original scholar in our family. This work is also dedicated to my late mother, Carla Jo Dakin. You didn’t get to read my work, but you were with me every step of the way. iv Table of Contents Dedication .................................................................................................................................................... iv Acknowledgements ..................................................................................................................................... viii Curriculum Vitae ........................................................................................................................................ x Abstract ...................................................................................................................................................... xv List of Figures ............................................................................................................................................. xvi Chapter One: Memory and Imagined Futures on The Fulton Mall ...................................................... 1 Introduction............................................................................................................................................... 1 Case Study: Post-2008 Revitalization Efforts ........................................................................................... 1 The Fulton Mall as Place and Space ........................................................................................................ 3 Theorizing A Contested Revival ................................................................................................................ 5 Ethnographic Research and Positionality ................................................................................................ 6 Economic Marginalization and Racialization of the Fulton Mall’s Space ............................................... 8 Different Visions: The Park vs. the Commercial District ....................................................................... 10 Different Visions: Pedestrians and Drivers on the Mall ......................................................................... 12 Overview of Chapters ............................................................................................................................. 15 Chapter Two: Power, Space and California - A Theoretical Overview ...................................................... 18 Introduction: Cultural Theory and Critique ...................................................................................... 18 Space and Place in the City: Urban Anthropology ................................................................................. 19 Competing Discourses of Citizenship ..................................................................................................... 21 Engagement vs. Control .......................................................................................................................... 22 Deconstructing and Contextualizing the State ........................................................................................ 31 Unit of Analysis: The “State”and Nation-State ...................................................................................... 34 Sovereignty .............................................................................................................................................. 36 The Central Valley and the California Narrative .............................................................................. 38 The Urban Duopoly: San Francisco and Los Angeles............................................................................ 40 Dispossession amid Plenty: California’s Central Valley in Literature .................................................. 41 The City: History in Space ...................................................................................................................... 44 Critical Junctures in the Study of the City .............................................................................................. 48 Identity and Race in the City ................................................................................................................... 49 Infrastructure and Urban Growth........................................................................................................... 50 The City: Political-Economy of Place .................................................................................................... 51 Conclusion .............................................................................................................................................. 53 v Bibliography ........................................................................................................................................... 56 Chapter Three: Walking and Listening on Fulton ................................................................................ 62 Introduction............................................................................................................................................. 62 The Fulton Mall’s Revitalization Timeline ............................................................................................. 63 Spatial Data ............................................................................................................................................ 69 Bibliography ........................................................................................................................................... 72 Chapter Four: Competing Discourses on the Fulton Mall .................................................................... 73 Research Findings .................................................................................................................................. 73 Theme 1: Narratives As Meaning ........................................................................................................... 73 Memories of Fresno: Nostalgia and “A Place to Go” ........................................................................... 74 Value, Affect and “Emptiness” : The Mall in Decline ............................................................................ 77 Theme 2: Remaking Downtown, Rethinking Citizenship ........................................................................ 79 Citizens and Placemaking ....................................................................................................................... 81 Activism: Manifesting A Vision ............................................................................................................... 82 Paving the Path: Governmental Intervention & Resistance ................................................................... 83 Summary of Findings .............................................................................................................................. 86 Bibliography ........................................................................................................................................... 87 Chapter Five: Placemaking on Fulton - Narratives and Imaginings ................................................... 88 Introduction: Regional History of the Mall ............................................................................................ 88 Urban Change and the Role of the City .................................................................................................. 88 Regional History of the Mall ................................................................................................................... 90 Space, Politics and Urban Planning ....................................................................................................... 92 Modernism and the Search for an “Urban” Identity .............................................................................. 93 The Mall on Film: Memorializing A Beginning and Shaming An Ending .............................................. 95 Bibliography ........................................................................................................................................... 99 Chapter Six: ‘There’ in Oakland, CA, or What A ‘Real City Looks Like’ ....................................... 102 Boosterism in the City ........................................................................................................................... 103 Rethinking Fresno in Oakland, CA ....................................................................................................... 104 Oakland’s Historical Placemaking ....................................................................................................... 105 Development of Highways ...................................................................................................................