Chinatowns Lost? The Birth and Death of Urban Neighborhoods in an American City

This article historicizes and links the ways in which ethnically segregated neighborhoods are born and die in American cities. Based on a historical ethnography of five Chinatowns in Los Angeles from 1850 to 1950, I highlight Chinese residents’ agency in both the birth and death of their own neighbo...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inCity & community Vol. 20; no. 4; pp. 326 - 345
Main Author Zipp, Daniel Yoder
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published Los Angeles, CA SAGE Publications 01.12.2021
Sage Publications Ltd
Subjects
Birth
Death
Death & dying
Neighborhoods
Chinatown
residential segregation
neighborhoods
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Summary:This article historicizes and links the ways in which ethnically segregated neighborhoods are born and die in American cities. Based on a historical ethnography of five Chinatowns in Los Angeles from 1850 to 1950, I highlight Chinese residents’ agency in both the birth and death of their own neighborhoods through a process called neighborhood architomy. Chinese residents split off new neighborhoods from dying neighborhoods while maintaining their institutions and memories, showing how neighborhood death and birth are intimately intertwined. To understand either process fully, we must treat neighborhoods and their residents as sociological and historical agents at both the birth and death of neighborhoods.
Bibliography:ObjectType-Article-1
SourceType-Scholarly Journals-1
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ISSN:1535-6841
1540-6040
DOI:10.1177/15356841211016753