Annotated Bibliography - Research Articles

BARRY, ELLEN. "In Queens, Classes in Mandarin are also Lessons in Adaptation. (Cover Story)." New York Times 156.53958 (2007): A1-A15.

The author describes a phenomenon happening in Flushing due to Asian population which make up 40 percent of Flushing; The language issue, which is also causing political controversy. The article mainly talks about a group of Flushing residents of different backgrounds who are learning to Mandarin-Chinese due to its predominance in the neighborhood. The article explains the different reasons that some of the students have for learning the language among which the common consensus seems to be “If you can’t beat ‘em, join ‘em.” Most of these students are taking on this new language as a means of adaptation, which is ironic considering that Mandarin is the inducted language. The Article also explains the political reasons behind sponsoring the teaching of the class. These classes, though, are being taught in a basement of a housing project which is by far, suitable to be a classroom. Aside from this, the efforts by the person responsible for this class have not quite caught on with the tenants of this housing project, some laughing at the idea of learning mandarin and other appalled by the idea that having been born in this country, they would have the need to learn a foreign language to fit in. On a funny anecdote, one of the students tells of how she finally approached her Asian neighbor whom she had lived next too for over a year and a half and said to her that she was learning Chinese in mandarin only to find out that her neighbor spoke Fuzhounese. For the mean time, she has no urgent desire to begin learning this dialect.

Smith, Christopher J. "Asian New York: The Geography and Politics of Diversity." International Migration Review 29.1 (1995): 59-84.

This article, unlike the previous, speaks in much more technical terms. The article, which is a study based on social demographic, economic, and political structure speaks about the changes that have occurred in the town of Flushing. It speaks about the social struggles that certain families are facing. This article however does present the benefits that new immigrant families have upon entering these social networks that have formed due to the large concentration of coethnic immigrants. As these families discover different ways to survive in this country, they are faced with three options which the article refers to as Work, Voice, and Exit. The first option involves immigrants incorporating themselves in the sectors of the economy, whether they are formal or informal through various forms of employment. The second option, Voice, is to get involved, either as an individual, or as part of a group, in politics. Then the third option, Exit, involves learning their cultural aspects, whether it be moving from monoethnic neighborhoods to suburbs, and potentially also leaving cultural practices in an effort to adapt. The article also presents statistical data that proves the “white-flight” of Caucasian people to the suburbs and their corresponding increase in city numbers of immigrants. However, the Asian population was by far the largest growing number of immigrant groups.