Our final session will explore New York as a celebratory city. We'll think about how parades, pageants, organized marches, fireworks displays and other public civic ceremonies mark the "arrival" of previously marginal groups—and how, at the same time, they keep open the possibility of more confrontational political action in the future. Again, we'll focus on images and other iconography, with an eye toward how celebrations such as Pride, the Puerto Rican Day parade, and West Indian Day Parade use public space as a way to widen the ambit of pluralistic, multicultural democracy—and how these "sanctioned" activities exist on a continuum with more spontaneous street protest.
A talk moderated by Vinson Cunningham with Ginia Bellafante and Ricky Flores at the Museum for the City of New on New York City as a Celebratory City.
