International express : New Yorkers on the 7 train / Stephane Tonnelat and William Kornblum.

Enhanced descriptions from Syndetics:

Nicknamed the International Express, the New York City Transit Authority 7 subway line runs through a highly diverse series of ethnic and immigrant neighborhoods in Queens. People from Andean South America, Central America, China, India, Italy, Korea, Mexico, Pakistan, Poland, Romania, and Vietnam, as well as residents of a number of gentrifying blue-collar and industrial neighborhoods, fill the busy streets around the stations. The 7 train is a microcosm of a specifically urban, New York experience, in which individuals from a variety of cultures and social classes are forced to interact and get along with one another. For newcomers to the city, mastery of life in the subway space is a step toward assimilation into their new home.

In International Express , the French ethnographer Stéphane Tonnelat and his collaborator William Kornblum, a native New Yorker, ride the 7 subway line to better understand the intricacies of this phenomenon. They also ask a group of students with immigrant backgrounds to keep diaries of their daily rides on the 7 train. What develops over time, they find, is a set of shared subway competences leading to a practical cosmopolitanism among riders, including immigrants and their children, that changes their personal values and attitudes toward others in small, subtle ways. This growing civility helps newcomers feel at home in an alien city and builds what the authors call a "situational community in transit." Yet riding the subway can be problematic, especially for women and teenagers. Tonnelat and Kornblum pay particular attention to gender and age relations on the 7 train. Their portrait of integrated mass transit, including a discussion of the relationship between urban density and diversity, is invaluable for social scientists and urban planners eager to enhance the cooperative experience of city living for immigrants and ease the process of cultural transition.

Reviews provided by Syndetics

Publishers Weekly Review

In this thought-provoking book, ethnographer Tonnelat and sociology professor Kornblum (At Sea in the City) explore how mass transit shapes the identities of New Yorkers. The authors use a wide array of perspectives from the 7 subway line, which was designated a national landmark for its role in the lives of the varied communities of American immigrants who live along its route. The ethnographic approach is academic, but the authors avoid jargon. The book covers the expansion of the subway lines into Queens and the concomitant effects on the city's population. Its strength lies in the analysis of interactions among the various non-passenger players at a major station, such as vendors, Metropolitan Transit Association staff, and the police, as well as the etiquette and unwritten rules of riders. New Yorkers will especially be fascinated by the authors' examination of subway competencies, including how savvy riders maximize their chances of getting a seat. Through their study of the subway system as a microcosm of a diverse society, Tonnelat and Kornblum make a significant contribution to urban studies. (Apr.) © Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.

CHOICE Review

Tonnelat (ethnographer, CNRS at Univ. Paris Nanterre) and Kornblum (emer., sociology, CUNY) present a compelling sociological study of interactions on a major New York City subway line. Their research illuminates not only social relationships on public transportation, but also the nature of urban life in the US's largest city. Among issues discussed are how the experience of riding the subway helps New York residents develop identities as "New Yorkers," how train riders navigate diversity, ways in which subway riders constitute a situational community, gender relations and perceptions of youth on the train, and how the 7 line drives urban development in Queens. While subway ridership has unique aspects that may be most common to the largest US and international US cities, this book also has relevance to broader studies of the role of public transit in urban life and the sociology of urban life in the 21st century. This work will be of greatest interest to students, scholars, and practitioners of urban planning, urban studies, and urban sociology. The book is quite accessible, however, and not laden with overly theoretical language. For this reason, it also may be of interest to more general readers with an interest in urban studies and related issues. Summing Up: Highly recommended. All levels/libraries. --Mark E. Pfeifer, State University of New York Polytechnic