Spaces, places and fields - The politics of West African trading in New York City's informal economy

This essay analyzes the political and cultural ramifications of transnational spatial practices in New York City. Mofe specifically, it focuses on the conflicts that resulted in tile demise of Harlem's African market in October 1994. In the transnational space of contemporary Harlem, the political, cultural, and religious intentionalities of West Africans, African Americans, local elected officials, and local government bodies are articulated in a variety of conflicting spatial practices and ideologies that entail serious social and political consequences. As this essay demonstrates, it is important far anthropologists to acknowledge and confront transnationalism and adapt our theoretical and methodological orientations to it.