Selling Ethnic Neighborhoods

While ethnic neighborhoods are usually associated with poverty, crime and social problems, they have also emerged as places of leisure and consumption, providing opportunities for numerous entrepreneurs and employees. Local and national governments and other regulatory actors, as well as the media, have started to see and promote these neighborhoods as urban attractions for tourists, city dwellers and others. This book aims to analyze the roles of ethnic entrepreneurs and their associations and governments, and - by extension - of consumers and other actors in the rise of ethnic neighborhoods as places of leisure and consumption. Through case studies, it situates those neighborhoods at the edge of different theoretical debates about urban political economy and the politics of culture, and seeks a dynamic synergy between both.

Jan Rath is a Professor of Sociology in the University of Amsterdam. He is currently the head of the Department of Sociology and Anthropology, and involved in the Institute for Ethnic and Migration Studies (IMES).