Ethnic Segregation

Ethnic segregation is the enforced or voluntary residential separation of two or more groups on the basis of cultural identity. Usually understood at the local scale among neighborhoods within a city, ethnic residential segregation also occurs at other geographic scales. Regionally, Native Americans have been forced onto reservations encompassing many U.S. counties, and many blacks in South Africa were relocated to several “homelands” during apartheid. The various aspects of ethnic segregation include what causes segregation, how segregation can be measured, and what interpretations can be made from segregated spaces. Overall, the separation of ethnic groups into distinct geographic spaces due to coercion or possible discrimination may illustrate the inequalities found in societies.