Ethnic affinity as a strategy of boundary making and immigrant incorporation: A case study in the Bronx
Item
-
Title
-
Ethnic affinity as a strategy of boundary making and immigrant incorporation: A case study in the Bronx
-
Identifier
-
d_2009_2013:b19cebd81381:11577
-
identifier
-
12131
-
Creator
-
Kosta, Ervin,
-
Contributor
-
Cynthia F. Epstein
-
Date
-
2012
-
Language
-
English
-
Publisher
-
City University of New York.
-
Subject
-
Ethnic studies | Social psychology | boundary making | ethnic neighborhoods | immigrant incorporation | The Bronx | urban history
-
Abstract
-
This dissertation explores the historical development of the `ethnic affinity' between Albanians and Italians within the Italian food trade in New York City. Relying on fieldwork on Arthur Avenue in the Bronx, it examines the current ethno-racial makeup of the former Italian neighborhood, focusing on two related aspects of change: the influx of incoming Albanian immigrants and the transition from a resident neighborhood to a commodified urban space. Engaging recent efforts towards a unified theory of ethnic boundary formation and transformation, this study looks at the group formation strategies of incoming Albanian immigrants, traces the shifting ethnic boundary between them and Italian ethnics from the late 1960s onwards, and argues that Albanian occupational and cultural incorporation constitutes a new strategy of boundary making and immigrant incorporation. Further, this study examines the role of this boundary work on the transformation of Arthur Avenue from an old immigrant neighborhood to an `authentic' shopping enclave of Italian food. Outlining the changes in the neighborhood institutional setup that culminated in the formation of a business improvement district, as well as the transformation of street feste, it outlines the shifting strategy from a residential to a commercial definition of the neighborhood ethnicity, ensuring the remaking of Belmont as a Little Italy despite the residential succession of Italian ethnics by African Americans and Latino immigrant groups in the blocks surrounding the commercial strip.
-
Type
-
dissertation
-
Source
-
2009_2013.csv
-
degree
-
Ph.D.
-
Program
-
Sociology
