TRASH AND SKID ROW. EXCERPT

This chapter is devoted to the formulation of trash as a racial, gendered, and political concept. I argue that within the context of urban city centers, trash refers not merely to the refuse of material objects and substances but expands to include bodies, temporalities, and practices. This chapter looks at the historical construction of trash in Los Angeles’ downtown and attempts to demonstrate the degree to which the concept of trash has been used to frame homelessness in a manner that links certain bodies and identities to materiality and practices of waste removal and management or the lack thereof.