From Barrio Ontology to Identities of Dispossession: Case Study of Boyle Heights

This paper examines how territorial dispossession in Boyle Heights, Los Angeles generates a moral ontology that transforms into a political identity centered on resisting multiple, intersecting forms of oppression. Drawing on interviews with activists and archival research, we argue that the ongoing processes of gentrification, deportation, and criminalization produce a "barrio ontology" - a shared understanding of disposability and precarity that shapes residents' moral geographies and sense of place. This ontology is rooted in collective experiences of displacement, policing, and immigration enforcement that render the community perpetually vulnerable to removal. We demonstrate how this barrio ontology becomes politicized through activist networks and organizing spaces, crystallizing into an "identity of dispossession" that frames neighborhood defense in terms of anti-colonial struggle. Unlike traditional identity politics based on categorical group membership, this political subjectivity draws boundaries between friend and enemy through territorialized forms of oppression. The “colonizer” enemy encompasses not just gentrifiers, but also collaborationist nonprofits, police, and immigration authorities seen as part of an interconnected system of dispossession. Crucially, we argue that actualizing this political identity requires moments of rupture - both symbolic and physical - that disrupt the existing order. Drawing on Fanon, we show how confrontational tactics like protests and property destruction serve as vehicles for overcoming alienation and forging collective power. By analyzing Boyle Heights' militant anti-gentrification movement, this paper develops a framework for understanding how territorial dispossession can give rise to new political subjects and imaginaries of resistance in marginalized urban communities.