Citizen Restaurant: American Imaginaries, American Communities

Abstract

Social justice imperatives animate American Studies in the twenty-first century. Zoë Strauss's evocate image that graces the cover of the 2007 ASA conference program seems an appropriate metaphor for the everyday intersections of race, memory, community, and class. From the Minutemen who patrol the desert to the mulit-generational demonstrations for immigrant rights, constructions of historical memory loom large with discordant interpretations of American identities. "Citizen Restaurant" encapsulates racial/ethnic food-scapes as markers of belonging and difference set within a larger frame of American inequality. The connections between the past and present require an interrogation beyond a comparative rhetorical analysis but one that recognizes the ways in which both historical memory and popular culture shape claims to public space and citizenship. Inspired by the works of Paula Moya, Hazel Markus, and Larry Bobo (to name only a few influences), this essay explores the ways in which race infuses ordinary acts of reaction, resistance, appropriation, and ambivalence as they have played out in selected service industries, including restaurants. But such recognition is not enough. In the words of Gloria Anzaldúa: "Enough shouting against the wind—all words are noise if not accompanied with action." As an indulgence in auto-ethnography, this essay interrogates the author's own intersections with K-16 collaborations and grassroots projects to offer a pragmatic (not romantic) glimpse into the challenges and possibilities germane to community engagement.

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