African Market as a Tourist Destination?

Reading Money Has No Smell has made me more curious about market in general because it serves as a destination for regular customers and tourists. Stoller's conversations suggest the initial transition from the streets with chain stores, or major shopping areas in the city, to the Malcom Shabazz market cost the traders profit but worked well because of decreased police interference. After some browsing I found several travel sites on the Internet reviewing the Market Place as a highly rated tourist destination. It might be that it only appears profitable, but the centralization of African traders in the market seems to have created a solid cultural landmark. This placement helps to cement the traders presence and helps to support Stoller's overall theory of Africanization of New York City. The ways in which the locations (markets, businesses) are advertised or depicted for tourists are very interesting. They seem to play on marketing the location as exotic and the goods as authentic which is a slightly less complicated picture than Stoller paints. Let's take a look!

New York Times Travel Section    

This one was particularly interesting... very cheeky. Yet it's a travel incentive, guess I can't be too picky then because it serves its purpose well. Areas of interest are highlighted if you wish for a taste of Nigeria, or a sound of Sierra Leone. There's advice on how to go to the places that sell food by the pound if you wanted to prepare an exotic meal. Also a small guide of what galleries to look at and what restaurants to eat at. It implies heavy migration and mentions a host of countries but doesn't mention Ghana. (Which struck me as odd because Ghanaians appear to be a majority in the book.) Art and fashion exhibits are highlighted but prices on items the article suggests you buy range from $25-95. So the review does not paint the same image as the markets in Money Has No Smell. Perhaps because the highlighted areas are geared towards tourists and diverge from the books focus. Intriguing nonetheless! In a few minutes of browsing appears another aspect of the cultural commodity trend to question.

The Trip Adviser

This one is less formal than the New York Times piece but it's interesting because the market was reviewed by two people. One gentleman called his review, "A Little Piece of Africa." He mostly comments on the merchandise and service. Authenticity is assumed in both reviews. It is interesting to see how the nature of the goods goes unquestioned, especially after Stoller's book details the not entirely African disconnected chain of production which most of the items go through. Even more interesting is that 1,218 people rated this review as helpful. That's an incredible amount of mass appeal for a review! I wasn't expecting such a high rate of traffic after seeing only two people had written about the market.  

Yelp!

This site was also for the Malcolm Shabazz market and had more reviews but not the abundance I was hoping for. Reading peoples opinions to contrast with what Stoller is writing might not be all that useful but it sure is making me think about how the book changed my perception or maybe swayed my focus on the market place. It's odd to have it painted as purely a destination to shop when I had started to think of it as a microcosm, as a body affecting the city. The reviews though, I've used interesting too much but I don't know how to else to describe it, are so interesting! Here's one from Janeen D. in Colorado,

I came here around 3PM on a Thursday afternoon.  Just happened upon it while walking Harlem. Pretty cool place and fun people working there who will try to talk you into a deal with whatever you may be looking at or touch.
Fun jewelry, reasonably priced, and nice, almost too nice people who work there.  Had a fun convo with a guy who had three wives and was extending an offer to me to be his fourth wife!  No thank you, but I will definitely shop here again!

I wonder if he really opened up to her about his three wives and if so I'm a little jealous because most of my anthropology classes and the book suggest such personal information is usually hard to get from individuals.

There's also Jonathon from California who divides the goods between African merchandise and Harlem souvenirs. A common trend in the reviews clearly mark the distinction between the true African goods and NYC souvenirs that are more ubiquitous to the city.


What does it all mean? I'm not sure but I'm very curious. Based on the reviews it seems like people come to the places described in Money Has No Smell for a purely African experience. Most people were disappointed about the lack of food at the Malcolm Shabazz market which suggests the ideal experience includes, goods, conversations, and snacks. I can't lie the total package sounds fun but comparing the book to a tourist experience just draws more attention to how layered the story becomes and how complex the situation is. It suggests that in some ways the city will always override or limit the effect of the Africanization Stoller describes and that experiencing the destination is much different than experiencing something that could be considered a piece of removed or isolated African culture.       

- Alexis Brinkman