Dear Ralph,

About  "immigrants" in São Paulo (Brazil), please, see the link of the Immigration Museum of São Paulo:

http://museudaimigracao.org.br/en/centro-de-preservacao-pesquisa-e-referencia/historico-das-imigracoes/

and:

https://www.repository.utl.pt/bitstream/10400.5/1999/1/wp200501.pdf

About "migrants" of others states in São Paulo:

http://www.saopaulo.sp.gov.br/conhecasp/gente-paulista_migrantes

Regards,

Vanessa

You could have a look on the work of Julie Garnier. Her PhD is on the role of african migrants in the transformation of french cities. Example of western french cities. She wrote many papers, most of them in french language

Her work is on african migrant entrepreneurship, of coure

Hi Ralph

Saskia Sassen identified and described this phenomenon in socioeconomic terms in the following :

Sassen, S 1991, The Global City: New York, London, Tokyo, Princeton University Press, Princeton

She revisits the question from the standpoint of political identity in the following::

Sassen, S 2006, Territory, Authority, Rights: From Medieval to Global Assemblages, Princeton University Press, Princeton.

Finally, for a Brazilian context in which the physical and cultural development of neighbourhoods is integrated, perhaps successfully, with urban policy (Favela-Bairro), check out:

Conde, Luis Paolo and Magalhaes, Sergio F (2004) (eds), Favela-Bairro: rewriting the history of Rio. Rio de Janeiro: ViveCidades.

I have no personal experience of Brazil, however.   Good luck.

What about contribution of rural-out migration to cities in their own country. Many of these rural migrants begin their life in informal sector, such street food chain, and introduce new products based on their rural knowledge and skills. They make enormous contribution to cities as self employed entrepreneurs. Any interesting studies on this aspect of migrants?

Thanks all for your precious contributions!

From your contributions, it appears clearly that the transformation of a city by ethnic/migrant entrepreneurs is a quite complex issue, as it may be viewed from difference angels.

@ Vanessa: I find interesting the relations between the immigrants' historical background and their contribution to build a place's (e.g. the Brazilian) "identities".

@ Christophe: The work of Julie Garnier - that I was not aware of - is very interesting, indeed, as it depicts the (Sub-Saharian) "African" ethnicity (expressed through the cuisine, etc.) as a way for those entrepreneurs to i) negotiate their place in cities as citizens and then to ii) change somehow local urban tastes and views. Fortunately, I speak French, so I will enjoy Julie's work.

@ Stephen: Sassen's concept of Global City is also very interesting, although Sassen copes with the issue mainly in socio-economic terms and a bit less in terms of the physical transformation of the city… I would think that the ethnic/migrant entrepreneurship actions to transform the city may be included within the concept of Global City, as immigration is one of the constituent elements of the globalization. What would you think?

@ Kirit: I am sure the contribution of rural migrants deserves attention. I guess you are referring to the rural-urban migration within a country, right? Well, I am actually working on international migrants, i.e. inter-countries, and did not pay attention to the aspect you are referring to, thus at the time being I have no references to suggest. Sorry.

Now, in the light of what you all said, would you agree if I asserted that the ethnic/migrant entrepreneurs - as part of the global city - transform the city, amongst others, in two main ways:

• they change the general urban tastes, e.g. through the introduction of their traditional - though adapted to their new milieu - goods into the urban market;
• This leads them to take part in building a new - permanent or temporary - urban/place identity, through their access to social, cultural, economic or political urban opportunities or resources ?

Dear Ralph,

Hope I'm not too late to give some input.  This is from a Malaysian historical perspective:

Pre-independence, Chinese immigrants arrived in Malaya to serve in British-owned tin mines.  They also started small businesses in towns, which grew into Chinese-populated cities.  Indigenous peoples who were traditionally farmers continued to remain in rural areas.  This demarcation in geographical and economic sector between Malaysia's indigenous peoples and the immigrants can still be observed today, resulting in differences in economic performance, education achievements and health status.  Many young indigenous population who migrate to the cities looking for work end up as the urban poor.

Hi Ralph

IN response, yes Sassen is not spatially oriented. There are some speculations about this at the end chapter of each book, done more holistically than with rigourous quantification for which she would need mapping skills comparably high powered to her numerical analysis found elsewhere in the books.

For example, holistically she observed  (1991) that in North american financial centres such as new york and toronto, the inner cities were 'hollowed out' during periods of recession and occupied by immigrants and marginal classes who work servicing the elite services developing or moving to the edges of town.  Whereas in South american cities, the immigrants and urban incomers occupy space at the margins of established centres.  There is no way to generalise patterns of immigrant settlement and one may find different patterns in asia and Africa.

Magalhaes 2004 noted that in order to be a 'true' element of a city, settling incomers need to occupy spaces that are linked with or have status of property in law.  This is an interesting distinction that is not raised by Sassen in even 2006 and actually, if accepted, puts immigrant urban settlements on an uncertain status with respect to the city itself in purely spatial terms.  In other words, squatting has no status as urban development, but , for instance, subdivision does.  Obviously this view would have no bearing on immigrants squatting in abandoned or under-utilised pre-existing urban places, where development already exists (i.e. in North American cities).

Good luck.

My contribution through this file (pdf). The text is in French.

Prof. Aly Tandian - Sociologue - Université Gaston Berger, Saint-Louis, Sénégal

[email protected]

Dear all,

Thanks for keeping feeding the thread!

@ Idris: Your view is interesting (… and no, you're not late at all to give inputs :-). So, if I understood well, the immigrants in Malaya are better off (in fiefs such as economy, education, health) than indigenous people, is that correct? If so, this would interestingly go against the thoughts of the large literature on the topic and I would interested to have a look at any papers, data, etc. you may have on the issue. Many thanks in advance!

@ Stephen: Thank you very much for your further contribution. It is really appreciated! Will take a closer look to those speculations.

@Aly: Thanks for your paper! Will read it and get back to you if I have any questions.

Again, thanks all!

Ralph 

Hi,

I think you must also consider how tolerant the social, political and legal environment is to this diversity commodification process. Many countries in Asia want to project an image of diversity and tolerance but at the same time their ruling classes want to control the extent of such diversity. In December 2013, a Malaysian member of parliament asked to ban billboard advertisements that use language other than Malaysian, arguing that the use of Nepalese, Burmese or Vietnamese defiles the national language. This was seen as a response to the emergence of “Nepali Street” and Myanmar communities.

The impact of the ethnic/migrant entrepreneurs on transforming the city will depend not only on their conditions and actions but also on whether the forces controlling the city “allows” them to do it

Hi again Ralph,

A good reference will be: Boo Teik Khoo (Ed.) (2012). Policy Regimes and the Political Economy of Poverty Reduction in Malaysia. United Nations Research Institute for Social Development - Palgrave MacMillan: London.

Have a good read!

Ralph, as stated by Benjamin, Cerere, Granier and Tang (2006), cultural activities have the potential to generate other quality-of-life improvements, such as bringing together individuals from other cultures and socio-economic status, uniting them by a common goal. Such cultural activities also leverage profit-making investments and thus have a substantial positive impact in culturally adaptive communities.

@ Jorge: Your point on the authenticity of the "openness" or "tolerance" of the institutions vis a vis the actions undertaken by the migrant/ethnic entrepreneurs to transform the city is crucial. Thanks for sharing! The issue of the "control" of the entrepreneurs by the city's forces makes me think of the impact that cultural distance (between immigrants and natives) may have on such a control. In other words, I wonder to what extend the following assertions should always hold true: "the higher the cultural distance, the higher the control" and "the lower the cultural distance, the lower the control". I'll think of it.

@ Idris: Thanks for the reference. I saw there is also a unrisd working paper on the issue by the same author. Great and thanks again!

@ Esi: Interesting point, in particular for the role that arts and culture (as a result of the transformation/commodification of migrant ethnocultural characteristics) play in the process. Thanks for sharing! I did not know these authors. I have just downloaded their report and look forward to reading it!

Thanks all!

Ralph

There's a projet in curse that studies simmilar questions for different european cities, it could worth to see their website: http://www.urbandivercities.eu/ 

Hi Nicolas,

Thanks a lot for sharing this information. I'll take a look straight away!

Ralph