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"Ghetto" a Word and Its U.S./Age Through the Twentieth Century

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62 RECALIBRATING CENTERS AND MARGINS "Ghetto" A Word and its U.S./age through the Twentieth Century ANTHONY SCHUMAN New Jersey Institute of Technology .'Th ghetto . oftc~zts cuitenre not to kgo/ enactment but to (Rrbstcv-'s leu lntcrnatronc~lDwtlont~i~ oj the En- the. fact that ~t mcets n need orrd ptv forms a soczal fiLnctzon. The ghsh Lnnpagc. Second Edztmn, 1960) glzc,/t~IS. In short. one of the so-called "naturd areas" of the czt! . " Ghetto In: A quarter of a czt~(a, zn Itall) in 14 hlch Jews zc~~e for merlj requzrc.d to 1z1.e b: a quar tel of a c~t~zri zthzch (Robert Parh in 1 irth. 1928. ia-x) the residents tire ch1eJI1 Jetts . 2: a quarter of o cztj rn uhzch inembcrs of a muzont> racml or cultural group h~erep becauw of SOCI~L~,legal, or pcoriomlc pres5u~e "lmerlca has contrlhuted to the concept of the ghetto the . 3: (~11 lwlatrd or sepegated group. reatrrctzon of persons to speczal arms and the llmztmg of thezr fieedom of chotce on the bum of skzn rolor. T~Pdark ghetto's (Aebst~r'cThzrd leu Internatzonol Dzctzonni~ of the Cnglrsh Lanpczgr. 1076) znr l,zblc LI alls haze been created h~ the uhtr soc7rt1, b? those I( 110 hale poicel. to confine tlzosc LI ho hove no pouer and to DEFINITIOKS "Ghettos, as ~ntrrnclcto the zclentzt~ of thc limted States as \eu In it> original uiage in 16th centu? Italj, the "ghetto"' \+a>the England z~zllages. tact natzonal parks, and leaf, suburbs, segregated district in \ enice 11 here Jells 1% ere required b\ la\%to nez ertheless I emciln unzyue zn thew soc~aland ph~slcal rsolatzon rebide. the former site of the *-ghettonuoro". or "'nev foundr!." from the notzon's ma7n stream. D7starckd and dangerous placec For rnanj people the term conjures frightful iinagrs of the . ghettos me perladed bj aburrdnnment and ruirz." central and east European ghettos treated by the hazis in the (Camilo Josir I rrgara. 1995, 2) late 1930's to facilitate the extermination of the Jenish people. -It the tlaun of the t\\rrit)-first century in the llnitrd States. "ghetto" designates urban districts comprised of high concen- Gh~ttoThe Jells' quarter Z71 an Itahon toun or czt?. trationi of most11 poor Uric an-41nericans. It is a sjnonym for (Rebster's Intcinat~onalDzctzonan of the Engl~sh le+ charged lahrls like ""inner-tit\'^ that signif! poor minorit1 Language, 1890) neighhorlmods. 01 er the lait centun the e\ olution of the uord "ghetto'^ in the United States. a, traced through sutcesii~e Ghetto I. The quorter of a toii n or cztj to ulnch Je~vsL( ere editions of & ebster's International Dictionarb. not onl) docu- restllcted fo~rcwdence. esp. 7n Itall : a Jeurl. Obs. or ments c har~eeiin common usage hut reflects fund~mentalbhiftb h~st.2. 4 quarter of (I c7tl uhere Je~usm greatest in the re? sorial arid economic \tructure of the countq as numbers ~CP. experienced pri~naril! h~ tv o groups - Jelt s and blaclts.' The (Rebster's lr~cInternatzonal Dzctlonurj of the En- \lord '-ghetto" enters the United States lexicon \\ith a specific,. glzsh Language. 19.20) and remote. historical meaning- the segregation oi Jew< in Italian citieb. The is the only meaning rrcwrded b~ B ebiter'i as Ghetto 1. The quarter of a toun or cltj to ulzzch Jeus laere late as 1890. BJ 1920. follo~ing-uhtantial Jewish immigration restrrcted for lesldence. ey). zn Itah : a Jeu r\. Chz& to the Lnited states from Eastern Europe (hb 1910 there uere hr5t. 2. -1 qualter of a cztj 14 here members of a racinl o~era million Jews in lVe~York this definition had group are segregated. expanded to encornpash Jewish districts more genrrallj. By 91 st ACSA ANNUAL MEETING LOUISVILLE KY MARCH 14-1 7, 2003 63 19hO. in re-lmrlie to large torrt rr~tratic~nsof impo~erihetl -'populated prilnaril\ In 4riglr. men: \\ orking 1ne11, iinn~igrdnti. 11lacbYirr ~~ortlierriintlu4al ( itir- thc dehitiori \\a. Lroadwcd trdrl-ierlti drld ho110e-" (Hdrt111an 198-1. .3:3) 1)ut \tdi 1101 itlrr~tilird\\it11 a111 .pet itic sac ial or ethnic group. llthougli the clasii( ghetto i, gerwrall! urideritood der~sel! pojuilated. thi- hdo\ rrgara'- patierit T isd do(wri~e~itatio~iof the grddual Although the common defir~itior~of "ghetto" refers to a specific tleitruc.tio11 of on( e dense irmrr-cit! nrighhorhood~a( roi- the place. the ~ord notes equall\ a state of mind. As wcial ( ountq pre-cnt* elidrnc e that the ""neu*^Imrric arl ghetto ih a ps!cliologi,t I<enneth Clarb heenlj ollsenes. "the .facts of the >parse uaitt.larrd ol dlrarldoned lots and huildir~gi.a c oritr~npo- ghetto are not riec cwarih s!IwnjIimu~ -it11 the truth of the ra? ruin (\ ergara. 1995). glietto (Clark. 1965. xxiii). And thif truth. moreover. ma\ be understood differentlj according to seleral factors: the race or fin all^. '-ghetto" ha- been used in a more general iense to ethnicit\ of the &en er: 14 hetlier the o11fer1 rr ipealts from desc~ihe ~olur~tarihi-dated cornrnunities. Freed from it\ incicle or outside the ghetto: nhether tlie isolation is largeh aisociation, uith url~an-ocial distress. perhaps iionicall!. the seli-inlpowd ("\ olur~tar,") or u11der duresi ("c ornpul~or!"): and term nlal also ronnote i~ldrids of prixilege. Thus Le~tis T\ hetller the glirtto refers to a phj sir a1 plac r or a ps! chological \Iurntord defines the +ulrurb ai ""a segregated corrirnunit~.iet state. In all instance<. ho~eler.the ghetto refers to relations of apart from the ritI. not merely h\ space hut bj class social itanding and power. Thus the trajectoq of the nard stratifit ation: a sort of green ghetto dedicated to the elite." traces Jenish assimilation on one hand and the continued (?lnmford, 1061. 493). Other applications refer to uni\ersitiei segregation of Afriran Inlericans as bubject peoples on the a, '-acade~nic*'or "htelle~tualghettos*'. or to gated residential other. co~nrnunitie. a> ".golden ghettos." One uay to define the ghetto is I,, a descripti~ee\aluation of a neighborhood (\I ho li~es there and 1% h! . ph\ sical and demo- THE JEWISH GHETTO graphic cliarac~teristic~s).The difficult! of this approach. which can yield contradictor! interpretations of the same place. has Rlost t~picall!. houe~er.*'ghetto" refers to conceritrations of led some social scientists to de~isemore ohjectile pardsticlts to ethnic or racial ~ninorities li~ing- in isolation from other define a ghetto. These gerierall~- rel~ on measures of isolation population groups. In the early part of the 20th centur~the and roricentration that emphaiize the segregation of a racial or term was still assoc iated primaril! M it11 Jev s. notabl\. the large ethnic qoup (rather than their incorne le~el).Douglas Massel .Jenish settlements in heu lorli Citj'f Lower Eait Side and the and Yam! !lenton. in their important studj 4merzcan Apar- Rest Side of Chicqo. .4ltliough Je~ishsettlernent patterns did tl~ezd:Akgregatzon and tkc llnkzng of the hdrrclass, define the not register le~elsof isolation and concentratiori higher than ghetto as -*ayet of neighborlioods that are exclusi\elj inhabited zome other ethnic^ groups. their large nunhers and extensile hj nle~nberfof one group. ~itlli~i\+hiill I irtuallj all rnernbers of I ultural and econornic actix it\ created a highly- - 1 isible encla~e. that group lil e.'^ (Ilas-e! and Denton. 1995. 18-19). B\ this R hile man\ JPM? uere poor. arid restrictixr real estate practices measure. the! argue persuasi~el,. no group except blaclt irihibited their settlernent in some areas. for the rnost part the American* has been ghettoized in the histon, of the Lnited Jev s lix ed together 1 oluntarilj to maintain their religious States. Their data shou ho~other ethnic or racial groups li~ed traditioris. The srnagogue \\as the central institution. along mith in more disprrsed patterns. or li~rdin Iebi exclusi~elj Talmud scllools and kosher markets. (Zeublin 1895. 93). As monocultural neighhorllnods. Their research has tlie effect of Louis U irth noted in 7'hr Ghetto. his groundbrealiing stud! of remo~ingfrom the ~ategor,ol ghetto dvellers riot onlj the .Jens Chic<ago's Je~ishcornmunit! in the 1920"s. -*The $hetto ih a hut also othrr racial rninoritiri. notahh Hispanics. ~\hohaxe dtural rorn~nunit\that expresses a common heritage. a store suffered from racial dist rirniriation in tlle Lnited States. of corn111011tradition arid ientiments." U irth ackno\\ledges that the ghetto is a form of toleration and an instrument of iocial Ic a ph!aic.al placr. the ghetto is rno-t generall! identified b~ control. but sees the perpetuation of the ghetto a. largeli population densit\ and a deteriorated and 01 ercrowded housing I oluntarj: "'The ghetto. therefore. rnaj be regarded a- a for111 of stocb. It i* in this sense that \triter Jack London e~oliesthe aci omrnoddtion between dil ergent population groups. through working (lab. ghetto. south of Rlarltet Street" in Sari Francisco. \\hich one group has efiectualh subordinated itseli to another." nhich he refers to ~ariousl~as d "lal~orghetto". a "cronded (nirth. 1928. 1-5).He relates an anecdote of a inan nhose <on ghetto". a -"s\\arrningghetto" (London. 1986 119091. 258. 262. urges him to lea\ e tlie glietto. "R hat ghetto?" replief the father. 274. 291). It tlle turn of the last centun, this neighborhood was \those circurmtribed lie\\ of the \\orld ca11"t imagine a life 64 RECALIBRATING CENTERS AND MARGINS The irsulting twmon~it integratior~ III~~he one reason mhj blac li r~ei~hl~orhood~meir not gcrrerall~refereed to as "ghet- tos" in the 1920.
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