Sabato Rodia's Towers in Watts: Art, Migrations, Development
Contents
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The Watts Towers Core Narrative The Watts Towers Core Narrative
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Identifying Key Issues Identifying Key Issues
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International Conferences: Genova 2009 and Los Angeles 2010 International Conferences: Genova 2009 and Los Angeles 2010
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The Watts Towers and Migration The Watts Towers and Migration
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Sabato Rodia: Italian Immigrant Artist and Worker Sabato Rodia: Italian Immigrant Artist and Worker
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Watts Towers, Contested Space, and Development Watts Towers, Contested Space, and Development
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Contested Cartographies, Fault Lines, and Common Ground Contested Cartographies, Fault Lines, and Common Ground
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Current Realities and Future Prospects Current Realities and Future Prospects
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Works Cited Works Cited
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Introduction: Sabato Rodia’s Towers in Watts and the Search for Common Ground
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Published:15 June 2014
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Abstract
This introductory chapter begins with a brief biographical sketch of Sabata Rodia, artist and creator of the Watts Towers in Los Angeles. It then sets out the book's purpose, namely to bring together documentary evidence and hence sharpen our focus on the man, his life, and his art, while offering broader interpretive meanings of the artwork on three fronts. First, it places the artist and his artwork within various interpretative contexts of artistic and literary movements while elaborating the historic and cultural contexts of this Italian immigrant artist within local and global migrations and within the Italian diaspora. Second, it considers the issues of art and conservation, the struggle to save the Towers, as well as the contested cultural and political axes occupied by the Towers (and kindred heritage sites) today. Third, it turns to the Watts Towers' legacy in predominantly African American communities of creativity and the issue of “development” in Watts itself. An overview of the subsequent chapters is also presented.
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