A Hxstory of Renting (1959—)

Cubao_AHOR_AlejoErina
Excelsior_AHOR_AlejoErina

Left to right: My family’s ancestral home in Cubao, Philippines; my family’s home of over 16 years in Excelsior, San Francisco (prior, we lived in the Mission).

 

A Hxstory of Renting (1959—)

By Erina Alejo

December 30, 2016

My family's supposed white collar dreams rely on our fleeting imprint in my hometown as thirty-year renters. Inextricable is my core identity as a third-generation renter in a city of ever changing owners; a city gilded in cultural amnesia. In its core, the city still remembers who it is, who it was and who it will be through voices like mine that persevere to recollect, contextualize, remember.

These are my field notes as an ethnographer on unearthing a facet of my city's memories, a hxstory of renting. 

 
A Hxstory of RentingErina AlejoImmigration, Labor, Bay Area, California, Philippines, Family, Renter, Cultural Amnesia, American Dreams, Imagined Communities, Sensory EthnographyComment