Jerome Krase

Jerome Krase, is Murray Koppelman Professor, Emeritus, at Brooklyn College. His NYU 1973 dissertation "The Presentation of Community in Urban Society" dealt with the problems and prospects of maintaining the viability of minority and racially integrated urban neighborhoods. Subsequently he worked as an activist-scholar in the field of community organizations, publishing articles and presenting papers while deeply involved in the neighborhood organization movements in NYC. During the last two decades his interests have expanded into Visual Studies of ethnic communities. He has published widely on urban life and culture and has lectured and conducted research on "Spatial Semeiotics" in many international sites. In 1998 he was Visiting Professor of Sociology at the University of Rome, "La Sapienza." where he studied the "New Romans," with a focus on the Asian community of L'Esquilino. In January 2003 he re-photographed L'Esquilino to the rapid changes due to continued immigration to Italy.

Imagining Chinatowns and Little Italies: A Visual Approach to Ethnic Spectacles

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Ethnic stereotypes and their commercial exploitation hinder the socioeconomic advancement of immigrants and ethnics. Over the past three decades I have studied, and photographed, a wide range of internationally recognized ethnic neighborhoods where one finds ethnic festivals and more mundane spectacles. “Chinatown” and “Little Italy” are two of many genres of commercial precincts or what … Read more