ETHNIC GEOGRAPHY
Chapter Outline 
California State University, Northridge 
Introduction
How do you define “ethnic”?
How does one become “ethnic”? (birth-migration)
The census is partly responsible for creating ethnic identities
Host Culture
What does “race” mean then?
What does “nationality” mean?
Geography matters
Place Makes Race
If there was not the friction of distance, races and ethnicities would not develop.
Without spatially enforced separation erosion of ethnicity and racial identity occurs.
Maintaining Ethnicity
The Good and The Bad
Keep alive cultural traditions and maintain group cohesion
Family, kinship, courtship, friendship
Recreation, political power, business
Suspicion, distrust, clannishness and violence
Q: According to lecture, scientific evidence now suggests which of the following is not a valid method of grouping people:
A. Ethnicity
B. Race
C. Nationality
D. Religion
Merge now...
Acculturation -adoption of enough host culture ways to blend in economically and socially
Assimilation - complete blending and loss of distinctive ethnic traits.
Marriage the most effective assimilative tool
Groups may choose not to assimilate 
Groups may not be permitted to assimilate.
Chinatown (fig)
Ethnic Regions
Ethnic Groups arrange themselves or are arranged in a variety of patterns on the landscape that can be mapped.
They may be large, covering many states as “ethnic homelands”
They may be small, comprising just few blocks as an ethnic neighborhood or ghetto.
American Ethnic Regions (fig)
Ethnic Homelands (fig)
Francophone Louisiana (fig)
Ethnic Islands
Much smaller than a “homeland”
May be only a county or town
Often rural
All over the upper Midwest
Midwestern Ethnic Island (fig)
Ethnic Island Landscapes (fig)
Ethnic Substrate
Is akin to an extinct ethnic homeland or a huge assimilated ethnic island.
The German feel to the upper Midwest is an example.
No one really seems too German, but there is a lot of beer and brats.
Why would such a place die out?
Q: More Americans self-report this as their ethnic heritage than any other:
A.  English
B.  French
C.  Mexican
D.  German
Ethnic Neighborhoods and Ghettos 
Ghetto vs. Ethnic Neighborhood
Ancient history and globality
Difficulties with definition
Slums vs. ghetto
Discriminatory housing practices include redlining, steering and block busting
Suburban Ghettos?
Ethnicities in Los Angeles
Whites are now a minority-majority in Los Angeles at 40% of the population and inhabit the edges.
Blacks in South LA
Latinos in East LA
Asians are scattered in various locations
Black Ghettos
The most well known of American ghettos are reserved for African Americans
The oldest are in the Deep South and are characterized by close integration among whites and blacks – “Early Southern”
After the Civil War, the “Classic Southern” version evolves and is more segregated and features the “across the tracks” ghetto
Northern ghettos are concentrated near the Central Business District in the “inner city”.
Western ghettos generally trend along a transportation corridor.
Black Migration
Though the South still has many blacks, millions left.
Why?
Clarksdale, Miss.
Route 61
Chicago
Black Ghetto Typology (fig)
Detroit (fig)
Charlotte (fig)
Houston (fig)
Why live in a ghetto?
Support
Defense and Safety
Preservation
Attack
Who are our “Ethnics”?
In 1840s- Germans, Chinese and Irish came in large numbers
Italians, Poles, and Eastern European Jews came in the latter half of the 19thc
Intra-American migration brought Blacks and hillbillies into the city
Later still: Puerto Ricans and other Latin Americans, Koreans, Chinese, Vietnamese, etc.
Cities have Ethnic “specialties”
New York and ____________
Miami and _____________
DC and ___________________
Providence and __________________
Boston and _______________
Little Havana (fig)
There goes the neighborhood…
Most ethnic neighborhoods grow and change.  Eventually they lose their character and acquire a new one.
Invasion Succession (fig)
We’re not the only ones…
Each country has a different ethnic mix.  It is what makes for the national character of a country.  
One of the main reasons that the United States, Canada and Mexico are different is our different ethnic mixes.
There are also different emphases on acculturation.
Melting Pot vs. Salad Bowl
Canadian cooking?
 Cultural Diffusion and Ethnicity 
Migration is what makes many “ethnic”
chain migration
channelized migration
return migration
Chain Migration (fig)
Ethnic Ecology 
Cultural Preadaptation 
Ethnic Environmental Perception
maladaptation 
Doctrine of First Effective Settlement
Q: Where is the largest source of migrants to the California today?
A. Latin America
B. Europe
C. Asia
D. Africa 
Ethnic Ecology (fig)
Ethnicity and Business Activity 
Different groups have different levels of entrepreneurial spirit.
Some groups who remain poor are not necessarily lazy, but may not prioritize life toward business
Ethnicity and Business
or Morality? (fig)
Ethnicity and Type of Employment
Ethnicities often specialize in a handful of business practices.
Irish and __________
Chinese and __________
Koreans and ____________
Italians and _____________
Jews and ____________
others?
Ethnicity and Employment (fig)
Ethnic Food Regions (fig)
Ethnicity and Disease (fig)
 Ethnic Landscapes 
There are a great variety of clues to the ethnicity  (current or vestigal) of any location
Houses, cemetery markers, recreational amenities
Ethnic Settlement Patterns 
The layout of towns and villages often recall an ethnic past or present
Germanic Landscape Values (fig)
German or Scots-Irish? (fig)
Urban Ethnic Landscapes 
Some of the easiest places to see these items is in the city, but frequently you can be fooled because of the rapid ethnic turnover of cities.
Sal’s Pizzeria
Water Street
Color preferences
Urban Ethnic Landscapes (fig)
Hispanic Mural (fig)
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