Premium
Cooperation, conflict and integration among sub‐ethnic immigrant groups from Taiwan
Author(s) -
Avenarius Christine
Publication year - 2006
Publication title -
population, space and place
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.398
H-Index - 68
eISSN - 1544-8452
pISSN - 1544-8444
DOI - 10.1002/psp.428
Subject(s) - immigration , ethnic group , ethnography , ethnic community , politics , sociology , acculturation , urban sprawl , geography , gender studies , demographic economics , political science , economic growth , urban planning , archaeology , anthropology , law , economics , ecology , biology
This paper investigates how immigrants from Taiwan who share a common place of origin but not the same sub‐ethnic affiliation create social lives for themselves in southern California's vast areas of urban sprawl. With affluence, the first generation of immigrants has become increasingly able to socialise exclusively with others who share similar cultural and political backgrounds. There is less need to maintain ties with outsiders for the sake of survival and adaptation as immigrants. Today, few older Hoklo Taiwanese keep up relationships with non‐Taiwanese. The community organisations in which they participate have predominantly Taiwanese members who speak Hoklo when they are together. They are connected to similar groups because they have members in common and are therefore part of a cluster of Taiwanese organisations. Older immigrants emphasise sub‐ethnic differences more than most people in Taiwan itself. In contrast, the interaction patterns of younger first‐generation immigrants from Taiwan depend on their self‐identification and degree of participation in the ethnic community. Ethnographic fieldwork for this paper was conducted in Orange County, California, in 1997 and 1998. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.