Renegade Dreams: Key Concepts

• Racialization is the process of assigning racial identities to groups based on physical or cultural traits, often without biological basis, leading to unequal treatment and stereotypes.
• In Renegade Dreams, racialization affects how young Black men in Eastwood are perceived as threats, irrespective of their individual actions.

“The Trap”

• "The trap" signifies the cycle of poverty, gang life, and survival in Eastwood, limiting choices and causing harm, even when one is self-protecting or trying to appear "real."
• In Renegade Dreams, young men feel trapped between loyalty to their friends and aspirations for a better life.

Deindustrialization

• Deindustrialization is the decline of manufacturing industries, leading to job loss, poverty, and social disruption.
• In Eastwood, the collapse of local economies due to deindustrialization made people vulnerable to informal economies and gang networks.

Fictive Kinship

• Fictive kinship involves treating non-relatives as family, creating social bonds based on loyalty and shared experiences.
• Gang members in Eastwood use "brothers" to address each other, creating a sense of belonging and protection.

Gentrification

• Gentrification occurs when wealthier people move into low-income neighborhoods, increasing rent and displacing long-time residents.
• Gentrification is a threat to Eastwood residents, potentially pushing them out of their community.

Echo Chamber

• An echo chamber is when beliefs are reinforced through interaction with similar information or people.
• Echo chambers shape perceptions of identity, truth, and social issues, often narrowing views.

Ascribed Status

• Ascribed status is a social position assigned at birth, such as race or sex, impacting opportunities and expectations.
• In Renegade Dreams, youth in Eastwood are often seen as criminals due to their residence and appearance, limiting their choices.

Informal Economy

• The informal economy includes unregulated jobs and exchanges, like street vending, often used as a survival strategy when legal employment is inaccessible.
• Young men in Eastwood often rely on informal economies, sometimes through illegal means, because formal jobs are scarce.

Biomedical Model of Health

• The biomedical model focuses on diagnosing and treating physical symptoms, often neglecting social and cultural influences on health.
• Anthropologists critique the biomedical model for overlooking the impact of poverty and racism on well-being, as highlighted in Renegade Dreams.

“Ghetto”

• "Ghetto" originally described neighborhoods where marginalized groups were forced to live, but now it carries negative stereotypes about crime and poverty.
• The label "ghetto" shapes outsiders' views of Eastwood, ignoring its resilience and complexity.

Market Externality Example

• A market externality is when a transaction affects someone not directly involved, either positively or negatively.
• The global trade in second-hand goods is a market externality.
• Wealthy nations send used goods, such as tires and electronics, to poorer regions without considering the environmental damage or the safety of local labor.
• Pollution and risks faced by workers in unregulated conditions are negative externalities.
• The market fails to account for the social and environmental costs.
• Anthropologists pay attention to the broader social context to understand these hidden consequences.

Illness vs. Disease

• Disease is a physical or biological condition diagnosed by medical professionals.
• Illness is the personal and cultural experience of being unwell.
• During the Ebola outbreak, the Western media focused on Ebola as a dangerous disease.
• Local communities experienced Ebola as an illness tied to fear, tradition, and mistrust of outsiders.
• Gunshot wounds are diseases by medical definition, but the lasting pain, stigma, and disability turn them into social illnesses.
• Anthropologists focus on how people experience health in the context of culture, inequality, and memory, which goes beyond the biology of the disease.

“Blighted” in Renegade Dreams

• City officials and developers use "blight" to describe Eastwood as run-down and not worthy of investment.
• The Eastwood Community Church challenges the narrative of "blight," seeing spiritual and social potential in the neighborhood.
• The church actively supports young people through mentorship and programs offering alternatives to gang life.
• The term "blight" is a tool of control that strips the area of value in the eyes of outsiders while ignoring the residents' efforts to survive and dream.

“Family”

• Family is shaped by cultural beliefs, social needs, and economic situations; a single definition does not exist.
• The nuclear family is often viewed the norm, but this idea is not supported or a reality globally.
• Friederike Fleischer's study showed housing choices in urban China reflect class, the pressure to provide family homes as well as shifting family patterns.
• Extended families live together due to economic pressures, shaping decisions about marriage and parenthood.
• Gang members in Renegade Dreams refer to each other as "brothers," creating family ties through shared experience and loyalty, offering protection and support.
• What matters is the function of care and belonging, not a set form.

Slavery in the U.S. and the Social Construction of Race

• The history of slavery in the U.S. illustrates how race is socially constructed through power systems.
• Elizabeth Lott's article explains how white Americans used Blackface minstrelsy to mock and steal from Black culture, spreading racist ideas.
• These performances shaped perceptions of Black people as lazy, dangerous, or overly sexual.
• Racist images were spread through cartoons, advertisements, and toys.
• The images trained white Americans to see Black people as inferior and shaped public policies and everyday behavior.
• Race is about how people have been taught to see each other, passed on through media, art, and performance.

Air Jordans in Eastwood

• Air Jordans symbolize hope, status, and survival in Renegade Dreams.
• In Eastwood, Jordans offer a way to feel visible, express identity, and imagine a future beyond poverty, helping people reach for something better in hard conditions.
• Jordans are a part of how people picture themselves differently, creating a version of who they could be if their lives weren't controlled by violence or scarcity.
• Air Jordans shows speculative capital, as some youth flip them for profit, turning sneakers into a small economic system, creating a chance to earn respect or money where legal opportunities are scarce.
• The shoes have social value, spark competition and judgment, but also pride.
• Jordans help clarify how style, money, and survival mix together in urban life.

“The Trap” and “Social Injury”

• "The trap" in Renegade Dreams is both a place and a mindset, where young people are stuck between danger, loyalty, and limited options.
• Structural violence shapes the lives of Black youth in Eastwood.
• Social injury is the lasting harm caused by constant exposure to inequality.
• One character, Ken, was shot and paralyzed, and his injury pushed him to the edge of gang life. The trap is a cycle of hope and hurt.