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- Title
Ethnic enclave reconfiguration: A 'new' Chinatown in the making.
- Authors
Luk, Chiu M.; Phan, Mai B.
- Abstract
Years of past research on traditional Chinatowns were based on the assumption that Chinatown is an ethnic enclave for a single ethnic minority, i.e. the Chinese. In recent years, one could observe significant changes over Chinatowns in terms of more Vietnamese presence. Yet, the transition process as an object of study is much under-represented in the literature on ethnic enclaves. Looking at ethnic business transition from Hong Kong to Vietnamese in Toronto's Chinatown West, this paper argues strongly that ‘multiple ethnicity’ can coexist in an enclave. For this case study, the Chinatown is being reconfigured into a ‘new’ Chinatown. Drawing upon data from the authors' Vietnamese Business Database that covers information between 1983 and 2003, we present both spatial and temporal analyses that offer insights into how the Vietnamese businesses grow through time. Our findings support the existence of a Vietnamization process in Toronto Chinatown West. However, its evolution is still in an infant stage. In some aspects, the incoming Vietnamese businesses display similarities with the remaining Hong Kong businesses. In sum, a total reconfiguration of Chinatown West in form and business nature is still unaccomplished. The conventional enclave concept which bases on the singularity of ethnic group has to be abandoned in view of rising occurrence of ethnic transition, particularly in this globalizing era.
- Subjects
CHINA; MINORITIES; ETHNOLOGY; ETHNIC groups; VIETNAMESE people; CHINESE people; CULTURAL pluralism; MULTICULTURALISM; CULTURAL fusion; GROUP identity; BUSINESS enterprises
- Publication
GeoJournal, 2005, Vol 64, Issue 1, p17
- ISSN
0343-2521
- Publication type
Article
- DOI
10.1007/s10708-005-3920-7