Disease Hubs of Los Angeles
During Dr. Deverell’s visit today, he mentioned society’s worry about miasma and areas in Los Angeles with a dip in the landscape. Miasma is fog in which people of the early 20th century suspected disease lingered. It can often be found in small valleys and places with small bodies of water. In a city which saw the migration of many Americans seeking its healthy, arid climate, I found it interesting to hear about places in which disease was rampant and feared. I wonder if we, 21st century students, have similar fears about disease ridden parts of Los Angeles. Skidrow is one area in which I, and most people I suspect, imagine disease to be prevalent. Beyond the obvious areas like Skidrow, Hospitals, or places with a large homeless population, where do we imagine disease might be prevalent? Why do we think such places are laced with disease? Perhaps our conclusions are irrational, but I am interested in why we think like that in the first place. Maybe some research will be helpful.
I also found this interesting since the image LA portrays is one of "perfection" consisting of healthy living and sunshine. Personally, I do have similar dears about disease ridden places such as skid row. Having grown up in LA, I don't see the city as the picture perfect image that non- angelenos may see. This isn't because I know a lot about the history of public health in LA or the current public health situation, but just because I have seen the realities of LA. Other areas I imagine disease to be prevalent are ironically the opposite of poverish neighborhoods or places like skidrow. While poverty does play a role in the spreading of disease, I believe that disease can be just as relevant in wealthy neighborhoods. This makes me think of TB in Los Angeles, and how it was seen as 'chic', or 'romantic' to contract the disease. I associate this with wealth and can see how sickness may be just as prevalent, yet it may be masked or hidden away from the public eye. I can see how the wealthy may try to keep up a public image similar to how LA tries to keep up its own perfect public image. Additionally, the citizens in wealthier communities have the money for doctor's visits and medication, allowing them to to catch the diseases quickly and take care of them before they worsen. So, really, I think disease can be found everywhere and can affect nearly anyone. I don't think it's a question of necessarily the groups of people/areas more affected by disease, but rather the outside factors that contribute to it. For example, in thinking about Fit To Be Citizens and the association of TB with Mexicans in LA, they were deemed "disease ridden" because they were "biologically and culturally inferior". The Public Health Department chose to ignore the obvious reasons behind the quick spread of the disease in Mexican communities: the environment. It was a matter of external factors that have nothing to do with the cultural/ethnic group. Place white people (or any other race) in that kind of environment and they will spread the disease too.
ReplyDeleteMy initial response to the reason why we believe areas with large homeless populations, especially Skid Row, to be disease ridden is because of the living conditions of those residing there. Driving through Skid Row, the unsanitary and miserable living conditions are very much in your face. That would be the first and foremost reason why I would connect lingering diseases to areas of large homeless populations. That being said I do not think that I actually think of Skid Row or any specific part of LA being a place laced with disease. My first association is usually drug use and mental disorders (which I guess is a disease but not a contagious one). I also think that by having spent a lot of time Downtown fairly close to large homeless populations during summer internships and such I have disassociated Skid Row, and large homeless areas, with contractable disease. But I also think that the living conditions of a person or group of people are a huge factor to what others believe to be true about them. For example, in 'Fit to be Citizens' there are examples of Mexicans or certain racial groups being categorized as biologically inferior because they were contracting disease...but they were living in the poorest conditions and not given the help that they needed to overcome the illness. Because they were already exiled from society, or because people were trying to find ways to further exile them, they were more susceptible to disease. I think this is the connection that I make with Skid Row: they are living in terrible conditions and I think it is safe to assume that they are more susceptible to contracting and suffering from diseases.
ReplyDeleteI don't necessarily think of disease and illness in the traditional sense around places like Skidrow or places with very dense homeless populations. Obviously, around hospitals, illness is the first thing that pops into mind, but at these other places I think of mental illness sooner that physical disease. Mental illness is just a larger topic that is introduced around homelessness and even uncleanliness. Even though, the mental illness is not communicable, I believe it still has large associations with disease in Los Angeles.
ReplyDeleteThe image os a miasma I think is a very scary one, just because of its airborne and enigmatic nature. Just as 20th century Americans were afraid of miasmas, we are afraid of the places like Skidrow as if they were miasmas. Going into a place that is unfamiliar and unlike the "sunshine and fresh-air" of the stereotypical diseaseless Los Angeles is a very uncertain experience. As Dr. Deverell mentioned today with the rats in the plague, disease likes to follow poverty and vice versa. Homeless camps are bound to have some amount of disease just because of the lack of sanitary conditions that they live in. We live in a time and place that is incredibly focused on cleanliness, and when we see people who may not be able to follow the same procedure to stay clean as we do, we may immediately associate that person with disease.
And, I think, similarly to Fit to be Citizens, Molina laid out the idea that other races were seen as biologically inferior; therefore, they were treated as such. This is very similar to the way that people view places like Skidrow, that these people are inferior so they deserve a lesser or patronizing treatment. For these reason, some people visit Skidrow only for charity work, or never at all for fear of infection or exposure.
I believe that common places in our society that are probably disease heavy would include grocery stores, stadiums and airports. I believe that all of these places are were most diseases are because all of these areas are extremely populated with people everyday. Due to the sheer number of people who fill stadiums every week, go to stores daily and how many people are in airports daily, it is hard not to believe that people with sicknesses are walking through these areas all the time. I have very strongly connected the idea that with heavy population comes heavy disease and because of this, I would say this is why I believe these places are so infected. Also it is very tedious and hard to clean every inch of the airport, stadiums and of stores, so this is also another reason as to why I think that these places are populated with disease. Similar to the idea that Dr. Deverell proposed about disease on cruise ships, this idea relates exactly to my idea about the planes.
ReplyDeleteAs you said, I would expect the places with the large homeless populations to be the most ridden with disease. Besides that, as Mr. Deverell said, diseases involving sanitation usually are connected with the lower class populations such as the huts the he said the Mexican workers lived in during the outbreak of the plague. Because they lived in an area/household where sanitation was not one of the number one focuses due to the families/ workers already needing to worry about other things, diseases become more rampant in such communities. I would say places like that along with very close housing areas is where disease would thrive and attack most people.
ReplyDeleteI think society imagines, correctly, that diseases tend to fester in places that are unsanitary. Many places and communities are associated with being unsanitary, but an example that I think proves the miasma myth is our associations with the aesthetics of kitchens. For example, the pinnacle of unhealthy eating and food poisoning is a very greasy restaurant. The image of the metallic kitchen covered in grease with an informally dressed cook engulfed in steam is seen as more unhealthy and unsanitary than the neat kitchen with a well dressed cook who neatly prepares the food. Think of it as a comparison between Lucky Boy and your favorite sushi restaurant. People associate the disorganized and rushed nature of the restaurant with it being unsanitary, despite the fact that the meat and food in Lucky boy is probably safer to eat than the polluted, fatty fish at a sushi restaurant. The point is that we are not incorrect to assume the cause of disease is unsanitary environments, but what we deem unsanitary can be irrationally driven by unfair associations.
ReplyDeleteAlthough I was not there for the conversation today and do not know everything that was discussed, a place where I have always imagined disease being prevalent is in hospitals. Even though my mom has always worked in a hospital and has never gotten sick because of working there and I have been inside a hospital more than once a week for the past 10 years, I am still scared that I am going to catch some kind of disease or nasty infection inside one of them. I believe that I started associating hospitals with disease when I was younger and I would see sick people waiting to be treated in the emergency room waiting area at the Huntington Hospital. It's a weird feeling. I know I probably won't catch a disease at one, but I am still scared of the possibility.
ReplyDeleteGenerally, illness sprawls up in places that tend to exhibit unsanitary qualities. The places in Los Angeles where I would expect disease to dins itself is mostly under public bridges where homeless people live and populate themselves. These spaces seem to have more disease because of the nature of such locations. For example, they all seem to have such prevalents diseases because there are so many drug users that certain diseases pop up very frequently. These needles are usually filthy and not prepared correctly. I would also imagine that the valley is pretty infested with diseases since the air seems to dip and the valley has its own atmosphere. On top of that there seems to be an overwhelming stuffy nature to Toluca Lake and the valley. This must have to do with the smog and I bet it contributes to how diseases makes its way around the local neighbohoods.
ReplyDeleteI left thinking a lot about what Dr. Deverell said regarding the overlap between disease and poverty. Although not shocking, it was still disappointing to hear the story about burning down homes that were assumed to be raging with disease. I think that impoverished environments can play a sort of "petri dish" role for disease... as in can lack the resources to fight off the encroachment and growth of disease which will then infect those living there. But, our difficulty is not jumping to conclusions.. just because disease can run ramped in communities of poverty doesn't mean that poverty leads to disease. Similar to how Dr. Deverell was breaking down the associations between disease and race: race isn't the reason or cause for a disease. I think we get too comfortable in easy conclusions and that it's an expired/old fashioned perspective on people and communities today.
ReplyDeleteI just imagine diseases in places like Dr. Deverell said, places that contain a lot of poor people, or people in poverty. I think we think such places with disease because they don’t like the privilege and luxury to: take showers, wash hands, indoor plumbing…etc. I personally don’t think that my conclusions are irrational because if you are not going to have the basic needs to cleanse yourself, you’re going to get sick and that’s the gag. However, the conclusions that are irrational are associating diseases with people of color, the only reason it’s a little bit true is the social economic hierarchy. Who could really benefit from research are the people that believe that diseases come from people of color.
ReplyDeleteI think that there is an image of Los Angeles that includes extremely wealthy people who are rich and famous and have achieved the American dream with little to no problems that “real people” have to face…including illness. However, I think that much of the population ignores the extremely large homeless community that is very much prevalent in our society. Homelessness is a HUGE problem in LA and I believe that many people think that this population is where disease is festering. This is an unfortunate perspective as throughout my 4 years at Poly I have been in close contact with the homeless community and do not see this people as disease ridden humans who are spreading illness throughout the city. However, I have noticed that some of these people suffer from mental illness. I have seen firsthand how mental illness is very prevalent in the homeless community in Pasadena and Los Angeles as a whole. I think that mental illness is prevalent in this population because the homeless community is neglected in our society and receive little to no help with this issue. Without resources such as Union Station or other shelters, these humans who unfortunately have a disease in which they cannot control, have very little help. I also believe that many people associate the homeless with disease because the homeless are often stereotyped as dirty, unhealthy, filthy beings with little resources for basic hygiene which results in disease. This is an extremely unfortunate stereotype but one that cannot be ignored. I think it would be extremely beneficial for our society to do more research and interaction with the community as I have seen that this is not true and we can rid of this harmful stereotype.
ReplyDeleteLos angeles is often portrayed as a beautiful, clean city with pristine beaches, perfect weather, and constant sunshine. However, this image only exists for certain factions of the city, at which point other parts become thought of as lesser. We then associate that neighborhood with notions of ghettoness and filthiness that we have learned through the process of socialization and media. I definitely think that skid row is one of those places where when walking through, people pay extra attention to lift up their skirts to avoid getting dirt on themselves or their lulu lemons or clutch their wallets out of a risk of getting stolen.
ReplyDeletethis thus associates the trope of poverty with a trope of disease. although yes, it is true that people living in poorer conditions are at higher risk of developing diseases because of poor sanitary conditions, but that does not justify treating them as lesser or having a fear of them.