9.9: Processes

The processes that create ethnic regions of all sizes are varied. Some are mundane or ordinary, others are disturbing. Ethnic bias and animus are obvious factors and are discussed at length below, but accident and environmental factors are also important. It’s not unusual to hear a story about why some great-great-grandfather moved to a certain city turn out to be as simple as “my car (wagon) broke down here” or “I only had enough money to get this far”. Chaos theory and a variety of stochastic processes help social scientists explain and/or predict several random social and cultural phenomena.

Figure 9-18: Glendale, CA. Armenians settled in specific suburbs of Los Angeles drawn by the availability of schools, churches and other amenities, such as this market. People feel at home in enclaves, but residence in them may delay entry into the American mainstream.

Culture & Environment

Many locations that are attractive to immigrants are those that remind them of their homelands. It makes some sense that Scandinavians found Minnesota to their liking. The Spanish found a familiar Mediterranean climate in Southern California. Germans probably found the Midwest similar to the North European plain. When cultures are well suited to thrive in a new environment, the migrant population enjoys some measure of cultural preadaptation. For example, Dutch people from Holland, having generations of experience with draining the Zuiderzee via an elaborate system of drainage ditches, windmills and dikes found taming the marshy, tall-grass prairies scattered across the Midwest little trouble. Other European settlers considered the soggy wetlands of the Midwest worthless wastelands. On the flip side, English colonists who arrived in the Americas in the 1600s found themselves culturally maladapted to settlement in both the Massachusetts and Virginia colonies. This maladaptation occasionally resulted in catastrophic loss of life. English colonists who survived learned new strategies for agriculture and housing in the extreme climates of North America, where heavy forests and unfamiliar soil conditions posed considerable challenges for the English. Mormon migrants to the Great Basin in Utah likewise were forced to quickly adapt to different climate conditions from those they were accustomed back East. Surprisingly, the Cajuns managed to survive in the swamps of Louisiana at all after moving south from Canada.

Once ethnic identities are established, they are subject to persistent changes or elimination. Geography may play a role in maintaining or preserving ethnic identity. Living in an inaccessible location often keeps outsiders from moving into an area. If a new group moves into a region, they can outnumber the original, or host group, and in the process erode or alter the identity of the host group. This process is known as the changeover model. Similarly, if large numbers of the host group move away from an ethnic region or homeland waves of outmigration may degrade the numbers needed to sustain the group’s identity. This process is known as the clearance model of ethnic change. In the United States, for example, Cajuns and Creoles (French-speaking people of Louisiana) have managed to maintain their identity for hundreds of years, partly because they have occupied swampy parts of Louisiana where rail and highway infrastructure was late to arrive. Many have moved away in recent decades seeking jobs away from South Louisiana. At the same time, others have moved into South Louisiana threatening the survival of the Cajun and Creole identity.