Little India,Next Exit

Abstract

■ In Southern California, as in many other metropolitan regions across the US, some places are identified as ethnic destinations: publicly labeled or branded urban spaces designed to highlight an ethnic area to city residents and tourists. This article analyzes the social and political processes that are critical to the ethnic branding of urban places by examining a political dispute in 2003 over the placement of a freeway sign in the City of Artesia, in southeastern Los Angeles County, that would have identified the area as ‘Little India’ to passing motorists. This article shows that ethnic labeling does not arise simply from an area’s demographic composition; ethnic entrepreneurs play an important role. Ethnic tensions, which can emerge when labeling is proposed, can fragment residents and businesses in the locality. If this occurs, the decisions of political actors and their relationships to one another are critical to resolving — or exacerbating — the dispute.