Asians in America's Suburbs: Patterns and Consequences of Settlement^*

* This project has been partially funded through an Initiative Grant by the Office of Vice Provost for Research and a Dean's Incentive Grant, College of Public Programs, Arizona State University (MRR NO29), and through a National Institute of Child Health and Human Development Grant for Professional Development, Population Research Center, University of Texas, Austin. We are grateful to Alex Oberle, Kedi Wang, Weidi Pang, and Jianfeng Zhang at Arizona State University and to Boris Brodsky at the University of Texas, Austin for their invaluable research assistance

Abstract.

In an effort to provide a more complex and multifaceted understanding of the process of spatial assimilation, this article explores alternative paths in understanding racial/ ethnic minority residential patterns. It scrutinizes patterns of contemporary Asian Indian and Chinese settlement in two metropolitan areas: Austin, Texas and Phoenix, Arizona. Though not particularly evolved in terms of their Asian immigrant settlement or dynamics, Austin and Phoenix represent the growing number of newly emergent Asian centers throughout the nation that have developed with the rapid rise of immigration from these two countries in the past several decades. The analysis utilizes records from the 2000 census to document and map Asian Indian and Chinese settlement within each metropolitan area and to investigate whether‐and to what degree‐each group is clustered or dispersed. The article then raises important questions about the consequences of concentration and dispersal for the incorporation of Asian Indian and Chinese residents.

Key words:

• Asian Indians
• Austin
• Chinese
• Phoenix
• spatial assimilation
• whiteness.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Emily Skop

Dr. Skop is an assistant professor of geography at the University of Texas, Austin, Texas 78712

Wei Li

Dr. Li is an associate professor of Asian Pacific American studies and geography at Arizona State University, Tempe, Arizona 85287