Description: This comparative study of the Chinese, Korean, and Vietnamese American communities in Philadelphia shows that each Asian American community maintains its own internal cultural boundaries. These cultural boundaries are used to cultivate differences which become institutionalized over time. Socially constructed boundaries, such as ethnicity, gender, class and generation, intersect within and among ethnic groups. Based on a social anthropological framework, this study describes the mechanism of ethnic and class identity formations, and shows how identities are institutionalized through various networks and organizations. This study also focuses on how historical patterns, institutional barriers, economic and legal forces of the wider society influence Asian experiences, and discusses how Asians respond to these external constraints. By unraveling the complexity of Asian American communities and their boundary strategies, this study provides a look at the new political processes which Asian Americans are creating in a variety of social settings.

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