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Accepted Paper:
Race and Place in Geography and Anthropology: Blacks as Landscape in New York City
Jacqueline Brown
(City University of New York)
Paper short abstract:
This ethnographic case study on race and place in New York City highlights the usefulness of geographical insights on relational space, while pointing to some limits of the important field of Black Geographies in its approach to race.
Paper long abstract:
Urban anthropology in the United States arguably begins with the 1899 publication of The Philadelphia Negro by W.E.B. Du Bois. Since then, American Blacks have mostly been studied—and imagined--in relation to cities. So close is the association that terms such as 'urban' and 'inner city' serve as euphemisms not simply for "Black people" but also for "social problems." This paper subjects the geographical construct of landscape to cultural analysis in ways that reimagine Blacks' literal place in the production of meanings of New York City. In so doing, it highlights the usefulness of geographical insights on relational space, while pointing to some limits of the important field of Black Geographies in its approach to race.