From The Outside In:
A Look Into Little Village
and Pilsen.
Take Your First Steps
When looking at Chicago, it is easy to get lost in all of the culture that Chicago has to offer. Within the 234 square miles that makes up Chicago, there are approximately 10 square miles that makes up a small part of Chicago where one can get a little piece of Mexico. One can see the differences in architecture, restaurant types, and music, as well as the influence of the arts within the communities. The communities that make up these 10 square miles of Chicago, are the neighborhoods of Little Village and Pilsen. Within these two communities, one does not have to look far to see art that shows how much pride that Hispanics, particularly Mexicans, have in their culture. When on 26th street in Little Village you can look in any direction and see the influence of Mexican culture in the community. From the bright and colorful buildings that mirror a lot of the buildings that one can find in cities in Mexico, to the many murals and representations of The Virgin of Guadalupe, it is easy to see and get a glimpse into the make-up of Hispanic culture. Pilsen houses the National Mexican Museum Art, which offers some of the most beautiful pieces of art that explain the history of Mexican people and their influences here in America, as well as their advancements in Mexico.
All of this leads to an understanding of Mexican culture that can come simply from an outside look into these neighborhoods. By looking at some of the art work and influential institutions in Little Village and Pilsen, one can see how the Mexican culture has become a very important part of these two neighborhoods. The reason why these two neighborhoods are of interest to me is the simple fact that I grew up in both of these neighborhoods and would also like to learn more about the neighborhoods that can give me insight into my ethnic heritage. However, the main emphasis is to show how much culture there is within the city of Chicago that might not be seen on the surface.
La Historia de La Villita y Pilsen
Since this research was conducted primarily to understand how one can understand the culture and religion in Little Village and Pilsen by looking at these neighborhoods through a tourist or outsider perspective, here ss a look at the history of these neighborhoods. The Mexican culture was not always the main influence in the neighborhood. Much of Pilsen’s population included Polish and Czech along with other ethnic groups from the Austro-Hungarian Empire. It was not until the early 1970s that Mexican started moving to the Pilsen neighborhood precipitating a “white flight” of the mostly Polish and Czech people. The name for Pilsen came from a town in Poland called Pilzno. After years of Mexican influence by way of population size, shops, restaurants, museums, and graffiti, Pilsen became one of the goto neighborhoods for Mexican culture.
Little Village’s history shares many parallels with that of Pilsen. Little Village’s first communities were primarily Irish and Eastern Europeans in the late 19th century. Mexican influence and residents started coming to Little Village in the 1970s and 1980s and now the neighborhood is called the “Mexico of the Midwest” by many of the members in the community (History of Pilsen). When asking many people in the neighborhood, many would argue that Little Village has the most influence of Mexican culture in the whole city of Chicago. These neighborhoods, along with the heavily Puerto Rican Humbolt Park on the West Side of Chicago has some of the most prominent Hispanic influences here in Chicago. One way to understand many of the cultural aspects of Pilsen and Little Village is by visiting and looking around the neighborhood.
Research Methods
I primarily used library research, field observation and photography to understand the culture of the area, what Harper (2012) would call “visual sociology,” as well as a couple simple interviews asking a few basic questions. While the visual aspect was the main aspect when conducting this researcher, my main goal was to be as much of an “outsider” when looking at this neighborhood as I could to try and reduce as much bias as possible and be able to learn and appreciate the neighborhood in a new way. This actually helped when looking at the neighborhoods due to the fact that I grew up in both of these neighborhoods and it could have been really easy to simply overlook many of the aspects that make these communities so rich with visual culture. Additionally, when looking at these neighborhoods with a reflexivity mindset (Harper 2012), it’s easier to try and understand why a piece of art was created and the purpose that it comes to serve. Looking at these neighborhoods in this way gave me a better appreciation for these two neighborhoods that I grew up in.
La Religión De Pilsen y La Villita
One of the most fascinating aspects when looking at these neighborhoods was the emphasis on religion. Religious figures and cultural objects are scattered throughout these two neighborhoods and nearly everywhere you turn you are likely to find one or more of these images. Even when eating at a restaurant on 26th street, El Milagro (The Miracle), inside there was a rather large, 3 or so feet in height, statue of the Virgin with a sort of shrine around it with candles and other religious pictures/objects. There were also people who would walk by and say a quick word of prayer or motion the cross on their bodies.
Much like the people who traveled far to worship the image of the Virgin on the tree in Chicago’s Rogers Park neighborhood, people of all generations are influenced by this religious background in this neighborhood and the notion of religion is very influential in this Hispanic neighborhood. You can see how the community comes to define itself as a place that is blessed through all of the religious imagery and churches in the neighborhood, and how all of these things can come together and indicate that it is a religious neighborhood. Being from this neighborhood, however, I can personally attest to the fact that these religious influences definitely indicates a collective identity, one that I would identify with and one that I cherish very much so. Griswold (2013) cites Alberto Melucci’s (1989) definition of cultural identity: “Collective identity is an interactive and shared definition produced by several interacting individuals who are concerned with the orientations of their action as well as the field of opportunities and constraints in which their action takes place…” (Griswold 2013). If one thinks about the timeline of these two neighborhoods, the cultural and collective identity of these neighborhoods developed rather quickly and has grown to become an influential presence in Chicago’s overall culture.
El Arte de Pilsen y La Villita
Another aspect that makes Pilsen and Little Village a very interesting neighborhoods are the very different, yet in some ways similar, artwork on many of the buildings in these neighborhoods. Utilizing ethnographic photography (Harper 2012) as well as looking at the cultural sociology of these different neighborhoods can give me a greater appreciation for these neighborhoods when looking into them. From the gritty and beautiful forms of graffiti, to the elegant murals, the art in these communities never fails to illustrate the culture and history of these neighborhoods. Below are some of the various forms of art in Little Village that one can see without looking too far into the neighborhood.
As one can see, most of the art are in forms of graffiti in Little Village. However, many of the buildings with graffiti were paid for and the owners of these buildings usually change the art work every year or every couple of years. Below is more art from Pilsen.
As one can also see, Pilsen’s art is mostly in the forms of murals. Most of the pictures above are along 16th street from 16th and Wood to 16th and Ashland in Pilsen. Although there are many differences in the art forms between these two neighborhoods, the similarities come in the form of cultural pride within the neighborhoods. Many of the murals and the graffiti center around the themes of bringing the culture of Mexico to Chicago, or more generally the Midwest.
Conclusion
By looking at these neighborhoods from a visual sociological perspective, I have come to find that there is a lot more that can be said about these neighborhoods, or neighborhoods in general, when you are really focusing in on certain aspects that the neighborhood has. Having cultural tools (Griswold 2013) at my disposal, it is easier to understand many of the objects and their meanings within the community; however, an outsider looking at these neighborhoods would not have to try hard to identify the importance that religion and familial backgrounds have on these neighborhoods. Something surprising that I realized when looking at these neighborhoods was that prior to my field observations I never really paid much attention to these public art forms. For instance, I never knew how prominent the Virgin of Guadalupe was in these two neighborhoods; I guess since I saw them so often I overlooked them. However, looking at these through a sociological lens has allowed me to truly appreciate these two communities that I grew up in much more than before.
Works Cited
Griswold, Wendy. Cultures and Societies in a Changing World. Thousand Oaks: Pine Forge, 2013. Print.
Harper, Douglas A. Visual Sociology. Abingdon, Oxon: Routledge, 2012. Print.
“History of Pilsen and Little Village.” — San Jose Obrero Mission. N.p., n.d. Web. 17 Mar. 2015.
