Discuss the rationale for retaining strong ethnic identity in the United States as opposed to full assimilation into the American nationality identity.

Ethnic Clustering in Your Community

In Chapter 7, you learned about ethnic clustering. You will apply this knowledge to your own community (city, town, small town, etc.)

In this assignment, you will investigate ethnic clustering in your community.

If you live in a very small town, or rural area, where ethnic clustering doesn’t occur, visit a bigger place such as Hamilton, OH, Cincinnati, OH, or any other place of a similar size. Look for the signs of ethnic clustering. Describe your observations.

In your description, address the following questions:

Where did you go? Which ethnic, cultural group is dominant there?
Have you found ethnic clustering?
Why do you think most of the people in this area migrated to the United States? What do you think are the push/pull factors?
What landscape elements do you think give this area a distinctive appearance from surrounding areas? Be specific—describe buildings, architecture, spatial arrangement, clothing, types of stores, food, and music that you encounter.

The following video illustrates ethnic cleansing in the Former Republic of Yugoslavia.

A century ago, European immigrants to the United States had much stronger ethnic ties than they do today, including clustering in specific neighborhoods. Discuss the rationale for retaining strong ethnic identity in the United States as opposed to full assimilation into the American nationality identity.