Living with Ghosts: How Physical Traces of the Past Shape Cultural Trauma in Chinatowns

Cultural trauma refers to how past experiences of harm can fundamentally transform a community’s shared identity, potentially generating feelings of solidarity and providing communities with a sense of common purpose. This article examines the role of cultural trauma in motivating and guiding ongoing efforts to preserve historic Chinatowns in Canada and the United States in the face of contemporary challenges such as gentrification. We demonstrate how activists understand themselves to be contin