Ethnoburb: The New Ethnic Community in Urban America

Wei Li

Published by University of Hawaii Press 2009

Ethnoburb

The New Ethnic Community in Urban America

Wei Li

https://doi.org/10.1515/9780824862411

Overview
Contents

About this book

Winner of the 2009 Book Award in Social Sciences, Association for Asian American Studies

This innovative work provides a new model for the analysis of ethnic and racial settlement patterns in the United States and Canada. Ethnoburbs—suburban ethnic clusters of residential areas and business districts in large metropolitan areas—are multiracial, multiethnic, multicultural, multilingual, and often multinational communities in which one ethnic minority group has a significant concentration but does not necessarily constitute a majority. Wei Li documents the processes that have evolved with the spatial transformation of the Chinese American community of Los Angeles and that have converted the San Gabriel Valley into ethnoburbs in the latter half of the twentieth century, and she examines the opportunities and challenges that occurred as a result of these changes.

Traditional ethnic and immigrant settlements customarily take the form of either ghettos or enclaves. Thus the majority of scholarly publications and mass media covering the San Gabriel Valley has described it as a Chinatown located in Los Angeles’ suburbs. Li offers a completely different approach to understanding and analyzing this fascinating place. By conducting interviews with residents, a comparative spatial examination of census data and other statistical sources, and fieldwork—coupled with her own holistic view of the area—Li gives readers an effective and fine-tuned socio-spatial analysis of the evolution of a new type of racially defined place. The San Gabriel Valley tells a unique story, but its evolution also speaks to those experiencing a similar type of ethnic and racial conurbation. In sum, Li sheds light on processes that are shaping other present (and future) ethnically and racially diverse communities.

The concept of the ethnoburb has redefined the way geographers and other scholars think about ethnic space, place, and process. This book will contribute significantly to both theoretical and empirical studies of immigration by presenting a more intensive and thorough "take" on arguments about spatial and social processes in urban and suburban America.

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Frontmatter Publicly Available Download PDF	i
CONTENTS Publicly Available Download PDF	vii
PREFACE Publicly Available Download PDF	ix
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS Publicly Available Download PDF	xiii
INTRODUCTION Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	1
PART 1: Exploring the Ethnic Suburb
1. Ethnicity and Space Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	11
2. Ethnoburb: An Alternative Ethnic Settlement Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	29
PART 2: The Los Angeles Chinese Ethnoburb
3. Changing Chinese Settlement Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	53
4. Building Ethnoburbia Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	79
5. From Ethnic Service Center to Global Economic Outpost Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	100
6. Anatomy of an Ethnoburb Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	118
7. Portraits of Ethnoburban Chinese Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	150
PART 3: Ethnoburbs of North America
8. Opportunities and Challenges for Ethnoburbs Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	171
NOTES Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	185
REFERENCES Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	193
INDEX Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	209

Language: English
Publisher: University of Hawaii Press
Audience: Professional and scholarly;
Pages
- Main content: 232
Illustrations
- Other: 34 illus.

eBook

Published: December 9, 2008
ISBN: 9780824862411