Contemporary Ethnic Geographies in America

Christopher A. Airriess

• Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield
• Year: 2015
• Edition: 2
• eBook ISBN:
  9798881874377
• Topic: Social Sciences
• Subtopic: American Government
• Index: Social Sciences

Ethnic diversity has marked the United States from its inception, and it is impossible to separate ethnicity from an understanding of the United States as a country and "Americans" as a people. Since the 1965 Immigration and Nationality Act, the United States has experienced watershed transformations in its social, cultural, and ethnic geographies.

Considering the impact of these wide-ranging changes, this unique text examines the experiences of a range of ethnic groups in both historical and contemporary context. It begins by laying out a comprehensive conceptual framework that integrates immigration theory; globalization; transnational community formation; and urban, cultural, and economic geography. The contributors then present a rich set of case studies of the key Latin American, Asian American, and Middle Eastern communities comprising the vast majority of newer immigrants.

Each case offers a brief historical overview of the group's immigration experience and settlement patterns and discusses its contemporary socioeconomic dynamics. All these communities have transformed—and been transformed by—the places in which they have settled. Exploring these changing communities, places, and landscapes, this book offers a nuanced understanding of the evolution of America's contemporary ethnic geographies.

Table of contents

• Contents
• Figures, Maps, and Tables
• Introduction
• SECTION I. INTRODUCTION
• Chapter 1. Exploring Contemporary Ethnic Geographies
• Chapter 2. Creating Contemporary Ethnic Geographies: A Review of Immigration Law
• SECTION II. URBAN LANDSCAPES, LABOR, AND FESTIVALS
• Chapter 3. New Ethnic Landscapes: Place Making in Urban America
• Chapter 4. Immigrants at Work
• Chapter 5. Ethnic Festivals, Cultural Tourism, and Pan-Ethnicity
• SECTION III. LATIN AND CARIBBEAN AMERICAN ETHNICITIES
• Chapter 6. Mexican Americans
• Chapter 7. Caribbean Hispanics: Cubans, Puerto Ricans, and Dominicans
• Chapter 8. Non-Hispanic West Indians: Race, Identity, and Incorporation
• Chapter 9. Central Americans: Legal Status and Settledness
• Chapter 10. Andean South Americans: Settlement Patterns and Transnational Networks
• SECTION IV. ASIAN AND MIDDLE EASTERN ETHNICITIES
• Chapter 11. Chinese Americans: Enduring Community and Increasing Diversity
• Chapter 12. Korean Americans: Entrepreneurship and Religion
• Chapter 13. Filipinos: The Invisible Ethnic Community
• Chapter 14. Asian Indians: Construction of Community and Identity
• Chapter 15. Mainland Southeast Asia: Diversity of Conflict Migrants
• Chapter 16. Immigrants from the Muslim World: Lebanese and Iranians
• Index
• About the Contributors