List of named ethnic enclaves in North American cities

From Free net encyclopedia

(Redirected from Ethnic enclave)

Image:New-yorkistan-new-yorker-cover.jpg This is a list of ethnic enclaves in North American cities.

The term ethnic enclave when used in the context of North American cities, has a slightly different meaning than it does when used elsewhere. The formal use of enclave implies a community or population that is essentially trapped within walls and completely surrounded by an unfriendly population or government. In the United States and Canada, the term refers to communities, often of recent immigrants, who have voluntarily chosen to cluster together in a neighborhood, district or suburb. Generally, it is a geographical concentration of residents, businesses and community institutions of one ethnic group. Historically, the clustering may have been involuntary, due to housing discrimation which prevented members of ethnic or religious minorities from settling in more prosperous parts of town.

Contents

[edit]

About

To city residents who are not part of the community, the area is usually a dining and shopping destination and source of "authentic" ethnic food and groceries, such as Chinese cuisine in Chinatowns and Italian restaurants in Little Italys.

Certain ethnic enclaves may also be promoted as tourist attractions for revenue, sometimes by community business leaders. Services and goods in the area are oriented toward the ethnic group, and the lingua franca for business and social exchanges in the area is the native language of the group. Street signs and business signage may be in the native language or in multiple languages, such as street signs in English and Chinese in Chinatowns. English is also used when conducting transactions with customers outside—even within (especially with American-born descendants of ethnic immigrants)—the ethnic group.

Ethnic enclaves may also be sources of imported goods not easily found or sold in mainstream American retail outlets; for example, Japanese-language popular culture items such as anime may be sold in Little Tokyo, a wide range of ginseng and herbs as well as Hong Kong cinema Video CDs can be purchased in Chinatown and Bollywood blockbuster DVDs can be found in Little India. Enclaves are also sources of ethnic language media and these often provide a different scope of coverage than with mainstream news sources (that might otherwise give scant or no coverage to certain events), such as Chinese-language newspapers (for example, the World Journal) and Yiddish-language newspapers. The ethnic media might focus closely on events in the country of origin and within the ethnic enclaves themselves (such as political rallies in Chinatown) and satellite immigrant communities.

Jewish enclaves may be enclosed in an eruv while Muslim enclaves may have loudspeakers to announce the calls to prayer.

European enclaves are somewhat more common in the North and East; Asian enclaves are somewhat more common in the West.

[edit]

List by world region

[edit]

Asia (East and South)

[edit]

Cambodia

[edit]

China

Chinatown

[edit]

India

Little India

[edit]

Japan

Japantown

[edit]

Korea

Koreatown

[edit]

Philippines

Little Manila

[edit]

Taiwan

[edit]

Thailand

  • Thai Town, Los Angeles, California, United States
[edit]

Armenia

[edit]

Vietnam

Little Saigon

  • (Various: Westminster, California; Texas; Washington; Pennsylvania; Virginia)
[edit]

European

[edit]

Czech

[edit]

Germany

[edit]

Greece

Greektowns

[edit]

Ireland

Corktown

[edit]

Italy

Little Italy

[edit]

Poland

[edit]

Portugal

[edit]

Middle Eastern and Central Asian

[edit]

Latin American and Caribbean

[edit]

Others

[edit]

See also

[edit]

External links

Retrieved from "http://www.netipedia.com/index.php/List_of_named_ethnic_enclaves_in_North_American_cities"