The global ethnopolis : Chinatown, Japantown, and Manilatown in American society

This book focuses on three ethnic neighbourhoods in San Francisco - commoditized Chinatown, gentrified Japantown, and defunct Manilatown - and argues that the city is global because it comprises a multiplicity of global niches that interface with and sustain one another at the local level. According to the author, these enclaves are not simply transnational communities but, rather, global ethnopoles. They must be seen within the logic of globalization and not simply that of transnationality. The early emphasis on transnationality is misplaced because it looks at the process and not the outcome. Transnationality is the means by which, or the conduit through which, the global ethnopole is produced. The focus here is on various processes of border-crossing practices, connections, and flows in order to examine the globalized locality and the localized globality. Any theory of transnationality presupposes a theory of globalization. In other words, transnationality is the process by which globality is effected. This new approach of studying ethnic enclaves within the framework of globaliz-ation theory forces us to connect local activities and processes to a much larger universe. However, the view that diasporic communities maintain transnational rel-ations with their homelands is not new, though only recently have social scientists begun to unravel their various layers of interconnectedness. What is needed now is not simply a description of the enclave- homeland relationship but, also, an analysis and comparison of the transnational modalities of incorporation, operation, and reproduction of these ethnopoles, as well as the"global city' status that is the hallmark of their identity. Cover......Page 1 Contents......Page 8 Preface and Acknowledgments......Page 10 Introduction: “Little Americas”......Page 14 1 The Global Ethnopolis......Page 31 2 Chinatown: The Ethnopole as an Informal Capital City......Page 41 3 Japantown: The Deglobalization of an Ethnopole......Page 66 4 Manilatown: Global Exclusion and Global Margins......Page 89 5 The Ethnopole as a Global City......Page 123 6 The Global Space of the Ethnopole......Page 142 7 The Global Ethnopole in the Global City......Page 166 Notes and References......Page 180 Bibliography......Page 191 C......Page 200 E......Page 202 F......Page 203 H......Page 204 I......Page 205 L......Page 206 M......Page 207 P......Page 208 R......Page 209 S......Page 210 T......Page 211 Z......Page 212 "This book focuses on three ethnic neighbourhoods in San Francisco - commoditized Chinatown, gentrified Japantown, and defunct Manilatown - and argues that the city is global because it comprises a multiplicity of global niches that interface with and sustain one another at the local level. According to the author, these enclaves are not simply transnational communities but, rather, global ethnopoles. The focus here is on various processes of border-crossing practices, connections, and flows in order to examine the globalized locality and the localized globality. Any theory of transnationality presupposes a theory of globalization. In other words, transnationality is the process by which globality is effected."--Jacket Looking at commoditized Chinatown, gentrified Japantown, and defunct Manilatown in San Francisco, Laguerre (social anthropology and Afro-American studies, U. of California- Berkeley) argues that the city is global because it comprises a multiplicity of global niches that interface and sustain each other at the local level. The emphasis most studies place on transnationality is outmoded and misplaced, he says, because that is only the transport mechanism by which the global ethnopole is produced, and what matters is how they behave and interact once they exist.