Today’s reading explored chapter 5, “Nationalities, Race, and Religion”, of Laura Vaughan’s book Mapping Society: The Spatial Dimensions of Social Cartography. She introduced the topic of segregation through the lens of urban areas, where segregation of people from different backgrounds is especially pronounced and prevalent. I thought exploring the divisions and integrations in cities was a very effective gateway to talking about the “disciplinary divide between the social and the spatial sciences” (130). We tend to think of — and get taught about — segregation in its spatial manifestations. That is, the physical separation of different peoples, from sections of cities to entire isolated communities. But there’s more to it than tangible divides: there are also social, abstract ones, such as class, wealth, background. In and of itself, segregation doesn’t have to be an inherently “bad” thing. In Vaughan’s words, “There is little evidence for determining exactly at what point separation by social group becomes problematic. Nor is it clear how one would arrive at the platonic ideal of social mixing” (131). However, when segregation becomes forced or exploited is when it becomes negative. The example that Vaughan provides is the targeted mapping residences owned by Chinese people control them.
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