CBO stands for Chinatown Based Organization: The Role of Ethnic Voluntary Associations in Urban Redevelopment

• In Event: Voluntary Associations and Civil Society: Legacies of Systemic Inequality

Abstract

Despite the role of Asian elites in building and shaping Asian ethnic enclaves amidst segregation and immigration restrictions, studies on redevelopment in these neighborhoods have not critically analyzed the class differences between ethnic organizations—who represent the neighborhood’s interests—and residents in the enclave, and how this shapes the communities, politics, and development of the ethnic enclave. Scholarship in immigration, race, and ethnicity that does focus on Asian voluntary associations highlight their ability to foster ethnic community by building ethnic capital, alleviating immigrant integration challenges, and overcoming class divisions through ethnic solidarity (Zhou and Lee 2013). Using a case study of Los Angeles’ Chinatown from 1975-2005, this paper uses archival documents, interviews, and newspaper articles to trace how Chinese ethnic organizations—once the economic, social, and political foundation of Chinatowns—participated in and resisted the redevelopment of Chinatown and narrativized the changing needs of the neighborhood. I find that while initial efforts focused on building affordable housing and resources for working-class residents, Chinatown organizations soon shifted their focus to prioritizing tourism and business interests to promote the neighborhood as a historic cultural site rather than a vibrant working-class neighborhood. Ultimately as Los Angeles’ politics evolved to court foreign investment, these organizations’ political power was usurped by organizations with overt business interests. By analyzing the changing political conditions of an Asian ethnic enclave amid changing migration patterns and the rise of neoliberal urban restructuring, this paper highlights how ethnic elites who do not live in the ethnic enclave redefine the Chinatown community and shape who belongs in and is empowered by the urban political community, and who reaps the benefits of neighborhood redevelopment.

Author

• Victoria Tran, University of California-Los Angeles