Nicknamed the International Express, the New York City Transit
Authority 7 subway line runs through a highly diverse series of
ethnic and immigrant neighborhoods in Queens. People from Andean
South America, Central America, China, India, Italy, Korea, Mexico,
Pakistan, Poland, Romania, and Vietnam, as well as residents of a
number of gentrifying blue-collar and industrial neighborhoods,
fill the busy streets around the stations. The 7 train is a
microcosm of a specifically urban, New York experience, in which
individuals from a variety of cultures and social classes are
forced to interact and get along with one another. For newcomers to
the city, mastery of life in the subway space is a step toward
assimilation into their new home. In International Express, the
French ethnographer Stephane Tonnelat and his collaborator William
Kornblum, a native New Yorker, ride the 7 subway line to better
understand the intricacies of this phenomenon. They also ask a
group of students with immigrant backgrounds to keep diaries of
their daily rides on the 7 train. What develops over time, they
find, is a set of shared subway competences leading to a practical
cosmopolitanism among riders, including immigrants and their
children, that changes their personal values and attitudes toward
others in small, subtle ways. This growing civility helps newcomers
feel at home in an alien city and builds what the authors call a
"situational community in transit." Yet riding the subway can be
problematic, especially for women and teenagers. Tonnelat and
Kornblum pay particular attention to gender and age relations on
the 7 train. Their portrait of integrated mass transit, including a
discussion of the relationship between urban density and diversity,
is invaluable for social scientists and urban planners eager to
enhance the cooperative experience of city living for immigrants
and ease the process of cultural transition.
General
Is the information for this product incomplete, wrong or inappropriate?
Let us know about it.
Does this product have an incorrect or missing image?
Send us a new image.
Is this product missing categories?
Add more categories.
Review This Product
No reviews yet - be the first to create one!
Welcome to Loot.co.za!
Sign in / Register |Wishlists & Gift Vouchers |Help | Advanced search
