Global Chinatowns In the 21st Century

Chinatowns are a unique and familiar urban phenomenon that can be found in cities across the world. These neighbourhoods have also long been a focus of sociological research going back to the Chicago School and earlier. Over the years, sociologists have looked to Chinatowns to understand larger processes of migration and integration, community and identity, poverty and social disorder, and racism and discrimination. The World Congress of Sociology offers a rare opportunity to discuss Chinatowns on a global scale, comparing examples of these distinct and recognizable neighbourhoods across a diversity of urban contexts. In the 21st century, how should we theorize Chinatowns as a sociological phenomenon? What makes them meaningful to the communities that sustain them today? This session welcomes empirical and theoretical contributions that can help us to answer these and related questions.