In the last few weeks of my research, I’ve sought to hone in on the most recent wave of voluntary African migration to New York since the 80s. My maps seek to illuminate the settlement patterns of West Africans in Harlem as of the 2016 American Community Survey.
My first map outlines the Harlem area as it is defined historically, using boundary markers which have been pre-established. The only boundaries that I have created are outlined in the second map, in which exists a high concentration of African-based establishments and vendors. I’ve mapped out a few of such businesses and organizations including a Senegalese restaurant and the Malcolm Shabazz Market Place. I define these as landmarks in the context of my mapping project given the role they play in instilling an African “spirit” within Harlem; they contribute to making the Harlem African population very visible. They are also broadly indicative of the growing West African population in Harlem, further evidenced by the mid to high-level concentration of West Africans within and outside the vicinity of such establishments.
Given the density of West Africans in some Harlem locations, many concentrated pockets of African-owned establishments exist in certain neighborhoods. For instance, near 116th and Lenox, there is a sizeable amount of West African residents, correlating to the presence of several businesses on that street from 5th to 8th Avenue. In this case, there does seem to be a relationship between residence and concentration of African-based hubs of interactions, but I wonder if this is, in fact, the case. Are the West Africans living in Harlem those working in the area or are these business owners outsourced from other African-rich areas such as the South Bronx?
There also seems to be a shift in the concentration of West Africans going northward (higher density as shown on the map) which might be the result of gentrification. Subsequent research might explore these patterns using both the demographic characteristics of maps in conjunction with the histories of people to explore some of these correlations.
This is a great question: “Are the West Africans living in Harlem those working in the area or are these business owners outsourced from other African-rich areas such as the South Bronx?” I’m not sure how you would answer this without doing actual interviews, but this kind of question shows how much of a sociologist you are. Rather than taking for granted that this is a West African neighborhood in which people work where they live, you are seeing that there are different organizational and residential structures even within a fairly small community of immigrants. I guess I’m particularly impressed by this question because it parallels one I missed entirely years ago when, along with a friend in Middle Eastern Studies, I tried to undertake a history project on Atlantic Avenue in Brooklyn. As you may know Atlantic Avenue has been famous for a long time for its Middle Eastern groceries, bakeries, and restaurants. But what I learned quickly is that those people who own the businesses live in totally different Brooklyn neighborhoods — or not in Brooklyn at all. And, historically, that was also the case. So it seems there are different kinds of neighborhood formations that might qualify in colloquial terms as “ethnic.” I wonder if the one you are observing in Harlem is similar to others in New York and whether this reveals anything about im/migration push/pull factors, or anything else…
Such an interesting story. Have you continued to study this? Have you visited Harlem and seen all the new constructions?