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MCC Daily Tribune Archive

Nayda Pares-Kane Presents at Filling Station: Friday, February 26


Filling Station’s first event of spring 2016 will occur this Friday, from 12-12:50pm, in 8-200. The event is open to the entire college community.  Nayda Pares-Kane, Interim Dean of Liberal Arts (Academic Field: Sociology) will discuss aspects of her doctoral dissertation. In her own words: “My doctoral studies began in the fall of 2004 and ended with my dissertation defense on December 10, 2014. I received a PhD in American Studies from University of Buffalo’s Department of Transnational Studies. My dissertation title is Los Flamboyanes:  The Politics of Barrio Public Housing in Rochester, NY, 1964-1975. The study traces the national and local political context surrounding the development of Los Flamboyanes, a housing project built by and for the Puerto Rican community of Rochester, NY during the Great Society era. How did Puerto Rican neighborhood residents understand the contexts of segregation and public housing policy when they advocated for Los Flamboyanes? By examining the origins of this development, I explore the structural forces in both socioeconomic and political terms that defined and shaped the use of residential space in this particular neighborhood. More importantly, it situates Rochester in the larger national context and historical analysis of the race and class politics of segregation and public housing. My dissertation enriches the history of Puerto Ricans, by employing the use of archival material and oral history. Through oral histories I examine why and how the community advocated for this particular residential space within the local and national politics of public housing at a time when public housing was on the decline. The oral histories reveal a complex understanding of the development of Los Flamboyanes and are essential to this historiography. For community leaders, the housing project was a victory in political recognition and self-determination. For residents, the housing project provided affordable housing and a home with a connection to culture, language, and a viable community network.”

Tony Leuzzi
English/Philosophy
02/25/2016