Barrioization

Barrioization (sometimes spelled barriorization) is a theory developed by Chicano scholars Albert Camarillo and Richard Griswold del Castillo to explain the historical formation and maintenance of ethnically segregated neighborhoods of Chicanos and Latinos in the United States. The term was first coined by Camarillo in his book Chicanos in a Changing Society (1979). The process was explained in the context of Los Angeles by Griswold del Castillo in The Los Angeles Barrio, 1850-1890: A Social History (1979). Camarillo defined the term as "the formation of residentially and segregated Chicano barrios or neighbourhoods." The term is used in the field of Human Geography. Barrioization stems from the word barrio, Spanish for neighborhood or dependency of a city. The term was first used in the context of the so-called New World to describe Aztec calpullis. The capital city of the Aztec Empire, Tenochtitlan had approximately 60 calpullis. When the Spanish colonizers overran the city in 1519, they referred to the calpullis as barrios, since at the time the word had about the same meaning in Spain. The first barrios were filled with Indigenous peoples, particularly in what is now Mexico. Over time, barrio began to refer to areas of cities in Mexico where the laboring or working class lived, especially as this was the primary role Indigenous peoples played in colonial system. Pueblo de Los Angeles was founded 1781. Scholar Richard Griswold del Castillo states that while there is no evidence that the term barrio was used prior to 1848 in California, that the adjacent village of Yaanga "may have been considered a barrio." The pueblo was built using labor from the local Indigenous village and was totally dependent on their labor for its survival. Following the Anglo-American invasion and occupation of Los Angeles, the term barrio took on new meaning. As early as 1872, Spanish-speaking editors were writing the problems of the barrio which the Anglos referred to as Sonoratown.