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Article published In: Broken: Towards a vulnerability approach to Semiotic Landscape research
Edited by Máiréad Moriarty and Maida Kosatica
[Linguistic Landscape 11:2] 2025
► pp. 172–197

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On the skids

Mediating anguish, visibilising abusive places

ORCiD logo with link | University of Duisburg-Essen
 | University of Duisburg-Essen
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Available under the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) 4.0 license.

For any use beyond this license, please contact the publisher at rights@benjamins.nl.

Open Access publication of this article was funded through a Transformative Agreement with University of Duisburg-Essen.

Published online: 17 December 2024
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https://doi.org/10.1075/ll.24018.kos
Abstract
As a way of identifying places which visibilise vulnerable groups, this paper analyses stories of people living on Los Angeles’ Skid Row from their visual portraits posted on photographer Mark Laita’s YouTube channel Soft White Underbelly. Recognising the important role of oral narratives in the production of semiotic landscapes, we are concerned with the ways people talk about space and (re)construct their vulnerabilities in relation to Skid Row. On their own, autobiographical accounts facilitate a deep understanding of how people structure their lives around particular places, but we also document semiotic landscaping tokens collected from ride-along vlogs and virtual walks. This paper shows that Skid Row is a space of contradictory but simultaneous identities; it is a place of excessive regulatory control and perceived disorder; it is bounded and confined but also easily and dangerously accessible; it is peripheral and overlooked but also appealing to ‘watch’.
Abstrakt
Um Orte aufzuzeigen, die verletzliche Gruppen sichtbar machen, analysiert dieser Artikel Geschichten von Menschen, die in Los Angeles’ Skid Row leben, anhand ihrer visuellen Porträts, die auf dem YouTube-Kanal Soft White Underbelly des Fotografen Mark Laita veröffentlicht wurden. Aufgrund der zentralen Rolle mündlicher Erzählungen bei der Produktion semiotischer Landschaften, befassen wir uns mit der Art und Weise, wie Menschen über Räume sprechen und ihre Vulnerabilitäten in Bezug auf Skid Row (re)konstruieren. Autobiografische Erzählungen ermöglichen es hierbei zu verstehen, wie Menschen ihr Leben um bestimmte Orte herum strukturieren. Darüber hinaus dokumentieren wir semiotische Landschaftsmarker, die aus Ride-Along-Vlogs und virtuellen Spaziergängen gesammelt wurden. Diese Studiezeigt, dass Skid Row ein Raum widersprüchlicher und zugleich gemeinsamer Identitätskonstruktionen ist. Es ist ein Ort geprägt von exzessiven Kontrollmaßnahmen und wahrgenommener Unordnung; Skid Row ist abgegrenzt und eingeschränkt, jedoch auch leicht und gefährlich zugänglich; es ist ein peripherer und übersehener Ort, der gleichzeitig zum Hinschauen verleitet.
Article outline
  • Introduction
  • 2.The carceral landscape of Los Angeles: Skid Row
  • 3.Visible homelessness as a market of vulnerability
  • 4.Data and method
  • 5.Analysis: Vulnerable minds — exposed bodies — injurious places
  • 6.Concluding remarks
  • Notes
  • Notes
  • References
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Cited by one other publication

Francis, Athanasia
2025. Unpacking vulnerability, agency, and resistance. Linguistic Landscape. An international journal 11:2 ► pp. 198 ff. DOI logo

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