Ó Copyright by Mark Edward Pfeifer (1999)

Abstract/Acknowledgements/Table of Contents - [ Chapters - 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5 - 6 - 7 - 8 - 9 - 10 - 11 ] -  Appendices - References Cited

In much of the literature on ethnic group adaptation in urban North America there are assumptions either implicit or explicit that a clustering of group members’ residences and institutions is essential for the maintenance of a strong and vital ethnic group culture in a given city. Ward (1989) sums up the Chicago School perspective in relation to ethnic group settlement patterns. He observes that the human ecologists conceptualized immigrant ghettos as a certain type of "natural area". Immigrant ghettos were conceived of as neighbourhood communities, where a segregated population attempted to preserve its peculiar cultural forms and to maintain its unique way of life. Crucially, Ward notes that as so-called "natural areas", the social networks and associations of particular immigrant communities were assumed to be organized around the principle of residential propinquity. However the immigrant ghetto was assumed to be only a temporary residence for the migrant generation unless there were significant institutional obstacles to assimilation in the host society.

For the human ecologists, the assimilation process was explicitly connected to the residential dispersal of ethnic group members to outlying parts of the city or adjacent suburbs. Eventually, it was argued, this diffusion of group members into neighbourhoods throughout the metropolitan area would result in the disintegration of the group as a cohesive entity as the individual group members were absorbed into the networks and institutions of the general population. The human ecologists insisted that the relative concentration or dispersion of various ethnic groups provided an excellent indication of the length the group had been residing in the city and of the general degree of assimilation which had taken place (Ward, 1989). In sum, ecological models argue that ethnic groups will disappear as concrete entities in cities as spatial assimilation and its concomitant processes of acculturation and socioeconomic mobility occur (Massey, 1985). The ecological perspective presumes a strong relationship between residential clustering and the maintenance of institutional life among particular ethnic groups.

The presumed correlation between ethnic residential concentration, institutional vitality, and group cohesion is the centrepiece for a model of "urban ethnic pluralism" posited by Darroch and Marston (1987; 1994). These scholars argue that the residential concentration of a particular ethnic group directly contributes to the development and maintenance of an ethnic subculture characterized by institutional completeness – defined as the existence of social networks, institutions, services, and stores that cater primarily to the group in question. Darroch and Marston posit that the residential concentration of ethnic group members is a key factor impacting the strength of ethnic identity, the density of social networks, as well as the intensity of a particular group’s subculture and its general propensity for pluralistic activities, including possible social and political mobilization.

Very few studies have directly examined the relationship between residence and institutional participation among fairly recently arrived immigrant groups in contemporary cities. Scholars who have researched Vietnamese populations in North American cities have not devoted any systematic attention to this issue. Neither Dorais et al., (1987),(Quebec City); Rutledge (1985),(Oklahoma City); Gold (1992),(San Diego and Los Angeles); or Kibria (1993), (Philadelphia) discuss in any detail the spatial patterns of Vietnamese community life in their locality-specific studies.

A few researchers of other groups have provided support for ecological arguments linking residential concentration to ethnic institutional vitality and identity maintenance. Driedger and Church (1974) and Driedger (1978) examined temporally the "institutional completeness" and residential segregation of six European-origin ethnic groups in Winnipeg. Based on their findings, Driedger and Church conclude that residential segregation may be an important condition for the sustenance of ethnic institutional life. These scholars argue that a spatially fixed and bounded ethnic community promotes the development and maintenance of various institutions through which the services required by members of an ethnic group are provided by the ethnic community itself. In more recent work, Alba, Logan, and Crowder (1997) advance a related hypothesis. These scholars utilize census data to assess contemporary German, Italian, and Irish neighbourhoods in the New York metropolitan area. They conclude that ethnic cultural behaviour is more likely to be maintained by group members residing in neighbourhoods in which there exists a concentration of residents and institutions associated with a particular ethnic origin.

A number of scholars have challenged the spatial determinism of the ecological-based models. The work of these social scientists suggests that the social and institutional life of a particular ethnic group may survive and even flourish in the absence of residential propinquity among members. Close analysis of immigrant residential patterns in many American cities at the time of the late 19^th and early 20^th centuries has led some scholars to conclude that many European ethnic groups maintained strong institutions at this time despite a relatively high degree of residential dispersion across neighbourhoods of various cities (Chudacoff, 1973; Conzen, 1979; Ward, 1989). Support for the concept of "ethnic community without propinquity" comes from the research of Agocs (1981). Based upon empirical work in the Detroit metropolitan area, Agocs posits a typology of seven patterns of ethnic settlement. Perhaps the most intriguing of these identified patterns is what the author calls "community without neighbourhood." According to Agocs, certain ethnic communities in contemporary urban areas may be based less upon the residential propinquity of group members than on the interaction, communication, and shared activities of widely dispersed ethnic social networks. Agocs points out that ethnic community life in certain suburban areas seems to have gone underground. Many suburban residents of ethnic groups continue to attend ethnic institutions in older central city neighbourhoods as well as new institutions in the suburbs. Such gathering places act as centres of ethnic group social interaction, where persons living in scattered locations gather for common activities. Also, recognizing the fact that social interaction commonly transcends the boundaries of enclave neighbourhoods among immigrant group members in contemporary cities, Goldenberg and Haines (1992) argue for a non-ecological approach to the study of ethnic social networks.

Despite these and other critiques, ecological notions linking residential propinquity to ethnic institutional vitality and identity maintenance continue to permeate the work of contemporary social scientists who write about the settlement patterns of particular ethnic groups within cities. While spatial variables undoubtedly do influence the institutional participation of ethnic group members in certain situations, many geographers and ecological-oriented sociologists may give too much play to the role of residential proximity in facilitating or hindering group interaction. The present chapter will address this larger issue through an assessment of the relationship between residence and participation in ethnic institutions among the Vietnamese population in the Toronto area. The research presented in the chapter has been guided by the interrelated questions: Is residential proximity strongly related to membership and participation in Vietnamese ethnic institutions? Do Vietnamese ethnic institutions tend to possess memberships which are primarily derived from spatial catchment areas encompassing nearby areas of the city or conversely do members come to institutions from sites of residence located throughout much of the metropolitan area? Apart from residential proximity, what other factors seem to influence participation of individual Vietnamese within given ethnic institutions?

Examining the relationship between residence and participation in given ethnic institutions, its seems appropriate to focus the investigation upon certain types of associations and organizations while excluding others. Most applicable to research in regard to this particular issue would seem to be those institutions in which members participate and/or attend functions on at least a semi-regular (i.e. weekly or monthly) basis. It seems unlikely that most of the clientele of ethnic-specific social service agencies meet this criteria. While these organizations provide very important functions to their service populations, most Vietnamese probably do not interact with these agencies even on an annual basis. Furthermore, most of the professional associations organized by Vietnamese only meet a few times in a given year. This is the case for groups in Toronto including the Society of Vietnamese Professionals, and performing artists’, physicians’, dentists’, and pharmacists’ groups. Additionally, associations organized by students at educational institutions such as the University of Toronto, York, Ryerson, and Seneca College would not be expected to possess memberships tied to residential location as each of these institutions of higher learning attract Vietnamese students from throughout the metropolitan area.

The most applicable settings for research on the relationship between residence and institutional participation would seem to be churches and temples as well as certain especially active ethnic associations. Scholars have observed a high degree of religiosity among Vietnamese immigrants and refugees living in North America. In a national survey of Vietnamese, Cambodian, and Lao refugees residing in the U.S., about 70% of the respondents reported that they engaged in religious rituals. In this particular study, notably higher religiosity levels were recorded among the Vietnamese respondents as compared to those from the other two Indochinese groups (Burwill, Hill, and Van Wicklin, 1986). In another survey of Indochinese refugees (including Vietnamese) residing in Utah, 70% of the respondents rated religion as being important in their lives. The members of the sample also reported a relatively high degree of participation in religious activities (Lewis, Fraser, and Pecora, 1988). Similarly, Dorais et al. (1987) observed that over 90% of Vietnamese Catholic respondents surveyed in Quebec City attended mass on a weekly basis. Most members of Vietnamese Catholic and Protestant churches in Toronto attend services on a regular basis, if not weekly. The other two major Vietnamese religions – Buddhism and Cao Dai - do not place the same emphasis on weekly attendance as the Christian denominations do. However, according to temple leaders and my own field observations, many Vietnamese Buddhists do attend their temple on a monthly or at least bimonthly basis, while consistently practicing religious rituals at home. There is also a group of members within each temple which attends services and other functions weekly. Similar generalizations may be made about participation at the Cao Dai Temple.

Certain ethnic associations are also appropriate for research on this particular topic. The Vietnamese Elderly Association of Toronto, the Vietnamese Scouts Association, and the Vietnamese Womens’ Association all meet regularly – on a weekly or biweekly basis. The bulk of their memberships probably interact on a more frequent basis than those individuals belonging to the more specialized professional societies.

This chapter will focus most heavily upon the relationship between residence and institutional participation among the membership of nine Vietnamese religious institutions located in the Toronto region (Figure 7.1). Two of the congregations are Buddhist associations, the seven others are Protestant groups. The researcher was able to obtain detailed membership lists with postal codes of the place of residence of individual members from the leadership of these nine congregations. Less detailed and more general information pertaining to the relationship between residence and institutional participation was obtained through semi-structured interviews with representatives of other religious institutions and some additional ethnic associations as well as informal conversations with members during visits to several institutions. The membership of the religious and secular institutions included in the study fairly accurately reflect the time of arrival and socioeconomic characteristics of the larger Vietnamese population. The majority of the members of most of the institutions have been resident in Canada five to fifteen years and many of them are employed in secondary sector positions of the labour

market. One institution – the Vietnamese Zen Meditation Group - is an exception to the rule. Most of the members of the Zen Meditation Group are a bit more established in Canada and several of them work in the professions and/or leadership positions of the Vietnamese social service bureaucracy in Toronto. Most of these churches, temples and ethnic associations are predominantly composed of ethnic Vietnamese originating from the South and Central regions of the country. North Vietnamese are underrepresented among the participants of almost every institution, given the share of the total Vietnamese population originating from the North. One of the churches consists entirely of Chinese-Vietnamese families, all of whom also originate from South Vietnam. While there is a gender imbalance favouring men in the overall Vietnamese population (Chapter Four), The majority of the members of most of the religious institutions are women. Elderly individuals are also probably overrepresented among active participants at most religious institutions, given their share of the entire Vietnamese population.

RELIGIOUS INSTITUTIONS

Vietnamese Alliance Church of Downsview – The Downsview congregation was organized in 1991. Initially, the group met at a school located in the Jane and Driftwood area. After a few years, the congregation was forced to leave this building and eventually moved into a church building situated on Mayall Avenue, not far from Jane Street and Wilson Avenue (Figure 7.2). The present meeting site is shared with a mainstream United church. The pastor stated that the current location, which is about a twenty minute walk from any public transportation, is undesirable. He is looking for a new meeting site further north and closer to the Jane-Finch neighbourhood. Of all the Alliance congregations, the Downsview group is notable for the high degree of residential

clustering among its membership. Most of the worshippers reside in the Jane-Finch area or nearby Rexdale, but not within walking distance of the church building. The pastor observed that many members frequently visit one another’s residences, many of which are located in certain high-rise buildings. In addition to informal socializing, congregation participants come together at one another’s homes on a weekly basis for the purpose of meeting in fellowship groups.

The Vietnamese Alliance Church of Toronto – This congregation was the first Vietnamese Christian Missionary Alliance church established in the Toronto area. The initial church group was formed in 1975 by Vietnamese who came to Canada in the first wave of refugees following the fall of Saigon. The group met at several sites until moving to its present building located on Boon Avenue near St. Clair Avenue West and Dufferin Street in the City of York (Figure 7.3). An analysis of the church’s membership list indicates that the residences of the worshippers are fairly dispersed throughout the Toronto metropolitan area. There is something of a concentration of church members residing in the City of York near the church building itself. However, the residences of significant numbers of members are also present in more distant locales including Parkdale in Toronto’s west end, sections of Mississauga, and pockets of North York and Scarborough. The church pastor notes that as the congregation was the first Vietnamese language Alliance church in the Toronto area, some worshippers have chosen to continue as members even as new Vietnamese Alliance churches have formed closer to their homes over the past decade. The church has organized small fellowship groups which meet weekly, on a rotating basis, at members’ homes. These fellowship groups - which engage in bible study and group discussion – are organized in terms of the geography of individual members’ residences. Each fellowship group possesses about a half dozen Vietnamese families.

Vietnamese Alliance Church of Southeast Toronto – This Alliance congregation was formed in 1992. The group is a tenant in a large church building owned by a mainstream Presbyterian group. The church pastor noted that this meeting site, located near the corner of Gerrard and Broadview (Figure 7.4) in the heart of the Chinatown East neighbourhood in the City of Toronto, was chosen due to its proximity to a Vietnamese residential population. Looking at the residential distribution of the church’s membership, clustering is apparent in the neighbourhood adjacent to the congregation’s meeting site. Equally noteworthy, however, is the presence of worshippers residing in other parts of the City of Toronto, including the west end. A few members also come to the church from more distant locations including Downsview and Mississauga. The church has also organized fellowship groups based on the geography of members’ residences. These include groups which are roughly based in the east, central, and western portions of the metropolitan area.

Continue Chapter 7

Abstract/Acknowledgements/Table of Contents - [ Chapters - 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5 - 6 - 7 - 8 - 9 - 10 - 11 ] -  Appendices - References Cited

		Updated February 09, 2004