The Enigma of Ethnicity: Another American Dilemma

337 Pages·2001·0.74 MB·English

by  Wilbur Zelinsky

the enigma of ethnicity

The enigma of ethnicity
another american dilemma
wilbur zelinsky
university of iowa press iowa city
University of Iowa Press, 01 02 03 04 05 c
Iowa City 52242 5 4 3 2 1
Copyright © 2001 by the
University of Iowa Press 01 02 03 04 05 p
All rights reserved 5 4 3 2 1
Printed in the United States
of America An earlier version of chapter 3, written
Design by Richard Hendel incollaboration with Barrett A. Lee,
http://www.uiowa.edu/~uipress appeared as “Heterolocalism: An
No part of this book may be reproduced Alternative Model of the Sociospatial
or used in any form or by any means Behaviour of Immigrant Ethnic
without permission in writing from the Communities,” in the International
publisher. All reasonable steps have been Journal of Population Geography4
taken to contact copyright holders of (1998): 1–18. A different version of
material used in this book. The publisher chapter 4 appears under the title “The
would be pleased to make suitable World and Its Identity Crisis,” in Karen
arrangements with any whom it has Till, Steven Hoelscher, and Paul Adams,
notbeen possible to reach. eds., Textures of Place(Minneapolis:
University of Minnesota Press,
The publication of this book was forthcoming, 2001).
generously supported by the University
of Iowa Foundation.
Printed on acid-free paper
Library of Congress
Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Zelinsky, Wilbur, 1921–
The enigma of ethnicity: another
American dilemma / by Wilbur Zelinsky.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and
index.
isbn0-87745-749-2 (cloth)—
isbn0-87745-750-6 (pbk.)
1. United States—Ethnic relations.
2. Ethnicity—United States.
3. Pluralism (Social sciences)—United
States. I. Title.
e184.a1 z45 2001
305.8(cid:1)00973—dc21
00-051157
For Gladys, now and forever

contents
Preface, ix
1 Coming to Terms, 1
2 Expressions, 54
3 Heterolocalism, 124
4 Thinking about Identity, 155
5 Explicating the Age of Ethnicity, 185
Notes, 231
References, 259
Index, 307

preface
In recent years ethnic issues have commanded an inordinate
amount of interest in both scholarly and public discourse in the
United States and many other parts of the world. The result has been
a vast outpouring of literature—more, it seems, than any single in-
dividual could digest and master. It might also seem that the topic
has been examined exhaustively, that we have run out of meaningful
questions to ask, so that no real gaps remain in our understanding.
As Abner Cohen has put it, “Ethnicity has already become the sub-
ject of such an extensive literature that there can hardly be any con-
ceptual formulation about it not made by someone before” (1981:
307). I do not concur. If I did, I would be committing an unpardon-
able act of redundancy by offering in the extended essay that follows
a product that would waste the knowledgeable reader’s time and
mine. When, several years ago, I began this study—one that has
proved to be a sequel of sorts to Nation into State(Zelinsky 1988a)—
I was motivated only by a vague, generalized curiosity, the urge to
educate myself about a subject that could not be ignored by a geog-
rapher or anyone else intent upon grasping the realities of contem-
porary America. But as I plowed through many hundreds of books
and articles, consulted with colleagues, dipped into recollections of
my earlier years, and peered at landscapes in a variety of places, the
realization gradually grew that something crucial has been lacking in
our hefty corpus of ethnic writings, or, rather, two closely related
somethings.
First, we have been afflicted with an unspoken consensus, a quite
convenient one for certain analytical purposes, to the effect that eth-
nicity is eternal and changeless, that this primordial quiddity has al-
ways characterized virtually all complex societies. But the actuality, as
Ihavelearnedtoperceiveit,andwillemphasizerelentlesslythrough-