The contingent construction of local identities: Koreans and Puerto Ricans in Philadelphia

This analysis examines the ways in which the two major new immigrant groups in Philadelphia, Koreans and Puerto Ricans, are learning to construct identities for themselves in a city that is paradigmatically black and white in demography, space, and politics. Philadelphia, a US deindustrializing city with a growing suburban hinterland, is experiencing a different restructuring process than global cities like New York and Los Angeles or newer sunbelt regional cities. Local spaces within the city itself vary in the process of constructing ethnic boundaries, relations, and identities depending on their class histories. The analysis demonstrates that as Korean and Puerto Rican populations confront different urban institutions and local spaces, they encounter contradictions among societal narratives about race and ethnicity and between these narratives and their own lived experience. These contradictions create openings for the formation of alternative collective identities and action. Conclusions indicate that such processes need to be examined and compared both between the metropolitan regions and within them to understand better the possibilities for change.

Key words:

• Race
• Ethnicity
• Immigration
• Koreans
• Puerto Ricans
• United States