| This dissertation studies the "isolation" of New York City Chinatown, examining how it was produced, maintained, and transformed from the late nineteenth century to the present. It rejects the common conception that associates "isolation" with individual psychology and culture because such focus tends to shift our attention away from inequalities of race and class, which remain the organizing principle in American society. To move away from an individualist approach and a simple cultural determinism, this study calls attention to and starts with the socio-political and economic dimensions of "isolation." "Isolation" is conceptualized as a socially and historically produced process through which different spatial domains of Chinatown (including material spatial practices, the representations of Chinatown, and the lived experiences of the residents) were organized by various powerful groups in such a way as to protect and promote their interests. In particular, "isolation" of Chinatown was, in great part, created and maintained through the specific political, economic and/or ideological functions it performed in and for American society. It is through this process that subjectivities and identities of the dominated groups were shaped, reshaped, and transformed. Using archival study and participatory research in a workers' center in Chinatown, this dissertation identifies four forms of "isolation," each spanning over a particular historical period. My analysis shows that each form of "isolation" was constituted differently through a variety of forces, including the U.S. government, the Chinese nationalist government and the elite class in Chinatown, to benefit them economically and politically. In addition, each form of "isolation" was associated with the construction of a specific version of "Chineseness," which played an important part in supporting the "isolation" to sustain. The analysis reveals that, over the course of time, "Chineseness" has transformed from a racial/biological category to a cultural/ethnic category. Finally, this study demonstrates that in different historical periods the working class people in Chinatown actively engaged in collective struggles to challenge "isolation." Through their activism, they challenged the dominant conceptions of the Chinese and created new (Chinese) identities. |
