Category Archives: Reading Responses

Article 2 from this week’s reading described ethnic enclaves as “a superior strategy for immigrant economic and social integration,” when describing the area of Sunset Park. I read this line in the reading just thinking, “really?!”  While this is true … Continue reading →

While Reading Miyares’ Changing Latinization of New York City, one of the points struck me.  New York City is not an area that can be described as having deep Hispanic roots.  This is an interesting point because if we think … Continue reading →

As the Hum article noted, the key dynamic in neighborhood change is migration. The pattern of ethnic succession begins and ends with a new group replacing another. Ethnic succession primarily refers to an ethnic group settling in one area until … Continue reading →

In Miyares’s piece, I was shocked to find out that the “first U.S.-based transnational president” of the Dominican Republic was from Washington Heights and that his family remained there while he was in office.  This idea of an immigrant’s maintenance … Continue reading →

When I read Min Zhou’s comparison of New York versus Los Angeles Chinese socioeconomic statuses, I remembered an article in a local newspaper I read a while ago about the deterioration of Old Chinatown (Lower East Side of Manhattan). It … Continue reading →

For me, the most important takeaway from these readings was a bit of a deeper understanding of just how thin line standing between a ghetto and an enclave can be. On the one hand, it is true that all the … Continue reading →

From these articles it becomes pretty obvious that when in a new and strange place, people try to find things that are familiar to them in order to compensate for the change in scenery. Because of this, enclaves such as … Continue reading →

Through all four of the pieces, they all share the same central idea, the seemingly simple idea of space. Davila mentions in his article that most cultural geographers believe space “that space is always socially constituted, and not solely through … Continue reading →

Whenever the topics of enclaves pokes its head up, we all inevitably find ourselves making broad, sweeping generalizations. But the more I read about this topic, I believe the more I find that there is no short, simple answer to … Continue reading →

The first thing I noted in the articles is that many living in El Barrio and Chinatown (or in the “satellite Chinatowns”) view getting out of said enclaves as a mark of success; despite the fact that they love the … Continue reading →