Macalester College DigitalCommons@Macalester College Geography Honors Projects Geography Department 5-2014 'I am here to build with you": Placemaking and segmented assimilation of Lebanese and Lebanese- Americans in the Twin Cities Anna Nassiff Macalester College,
[email protected] Follow this and additional works at: http://digitalcommons.macalester.edu/geography_honors Part of the Geography Commons Recommended Citation Nassiff, Anna, "'I am here to build with you": Placemaking and segmented assimilation of Lebanese and Lebanese-Americans in the Twin Cities" (2014). Geography Honors Projects. Paper 43. http://digitalcommons.macalester.edu/geography_honors/43 This Honors Project - Open Access is brought to you for free and open access by the Geography Department at DigitalCommons@Macalester College. It has been accepted for inclusion in Geography Honors Projects by an authorized administrator of DigitalCommons@Macalester College. For more information, please contact
[email protected]. “I am here to build with you”: Placemaking and segmented assimilation of Lebanese and Lebanese-Americans in the Twin Cities Anna Nassiff Macalester College Advised by Professor David Lanegran Geography Department May 5, 2014 “I AM HERE TO BUILD WITH YOU” Abstract: The Lebanese and Lebanese-American community in the United States is known for both its entrepreneurship and its unusually long-lasting cultural memory. Though relatively small communities, the Lebanese and Lebanese-Americans have had a disproportionately large impact on the landscape of the Twin Cities. This paper examines how Christian Lebanese communities in Northeast Minneapolis and the West Side of Saint Paul have used placemaking as a means to retain their cultural heritage, form an original Lebanese-American identity, and alternatively resist and embrace assimilation.