Ethnoburb

Box Hill, Victoria contains a sizeable Chinese population. According to the 2016 Australian census, 35.4% of the suburb's population were of Chinese ancestry, 27.6% of the suburb's population was born in China, while 38.1% of the suburb's population spoke either Mandarin or Cantonese at home.[1]

An ethnoburb is a suburban residential and business area with a notable cluster of a particular ethnic minority population, which may or may not be a local majority.[2] That can greatly influence the social geography within the area because of distinct cultural and religious values. Ethnoburbs allow for ethnic minority groups to maintain their traditional identity, forestalling cultural assimilation.[3]

According to Dr. Wei Li, the author of many writings on the subject, the ethnoburb has resulted from "the influence of international geopolitical and global economic restructuring, changing national immigration and trade policies, and local demographic, economic and political contexts."[2]

Although many assume that an ethnoburb is composed of immigrants with a lower economic status, that may not always be the case, as many ethnoburbs are made up of wealthy and high economic status individuals in more expensive neighbourhoods and communities.[4]

  1. ^ "Box Hill (Vic.)". Australian Bureau of Statistics. Retrieved 21 February 2022.
  2. ^ a b Li, Wei (March 1, 1998). "Anatomy of a New Ethnic Settlement: The Chinese Ethnoburb in Los Angeles". Urban Studies. 35 (3): 479–501. doi:10.1080/0042098984871. S2CID 154012137.
  3. ^ Li, Wei (2009). Ethnoburb: The New Ethnic Community in Urban America. Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press.
  4. ^ Peach, Ceri (April 1, 2002). "Social Geography: New Religions and Ethnoburbs - Contrasts with Cultural Geography". Progress in Human Geography. 26 (2): 252–260. doi:10.1191/0309132502ph368pr. S2CID 144930147.