Creating Africa in America: Translocal Identity in an Emerging World City (Contemporary Ethnography) [Paperback]

Jacqueline Copeland-Carson (Author)

Book Description

Series: Contemporary Ethnography | Publication Date: May 10, 2004

With a booming economy that afforded numerous opportunities for immigrants throughout the 1990s, the Twin Cities area has attracted people of African descent from throughout the United States and the world and is fast becoming a transnational metropolis. Minnesota's largest urban area, the region now also has the country's most diverse black population. A closely drawn ethnography, Creating Africa in America: Translocal Identity in an Emerging World City seeks to understand and evaluate the process of identity formation in the context of globalization in a way that is also site specific.

Bringing to this study a rich and interesting professional history and expertise, Jacqueline Copeland-Carson focuses on a Minneapolis-based nonprofit, the Cultural Wellness Center, which combines different ethnic approaches to bodily health and community well-being as the basis for a shared, translocal "African" culture. The book explores how the body can become a surrogate locus for identity, thus displacing territory as the key referent for organizing and experiencing African diasporan diversity. Showing how alternatives are created to mainstream majority and Afrocentric approaches to identity, she addresses the way that bridges can be built in the African diaspora among different African immigrant, African American, and other groups.

As this thoughtful and compassionate ethnographic study shows, the fact that there is no simple and concrete way to define how one can be African in contemporary America reflects the tangled nature of cultural processes and social relations at large. Copeland-Carson demonstrates the cultural creativity and social dexterity of people living in an urban setting, and suggests that anthropologists give more attention to the role of the nonprofit sector as a forum for creating community and identity throughout African diasporan history in the United States.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"'Who is 'African' in a global ecumene? Anthropologist Copeland Carson poses this challenging question in her study of cultural dynamics in Minneapolis-Saint Paul. . . . Highly recommended."—Choice

From the Publisher

Jacqueline Copeland-Carson is a senior fellow with the Roy Wilkins Center of the Hubert H. Humphrey School of Public Affairs at the University of Minnesota.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 256 pages
• Publisher: University of Pennsylvania Press (May 10, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0812218760
• ISBN-13: 978-0812218763
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 6.2 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 13.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #951,139 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Thought Provoking, November 2, 2005

By 

J. Johnson "J." (MN) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Creating Africa in America: Translocal Identity in an Emerging World City (Contemporary Ethnography) (Paperback)

In the twin cities of Minneapolis and St. Paul their is an emerging community of African, Hmong, and Native American populations unparalled to none in this country. This seminal discussion of multi-culturalism, health and wellness really helped me to understand the universality of our indigenous cultures. These cultures were brought together by an inner city non-profit that uses an African traditional practices to bring all cultures into one; connecting the disconnected in the healing process. Despite troubles of the author/researcher Copeland-Carson of being accepted as a researcher, she was not only able to be objective but became emerged in the synergy of giving and receiving, and was eventually fully accepted in the process. The process of self-discovery, that is, how do you determine your identity, added profound dignity to all people's around the world. The discussions groups were lively, spirited, brutally honest, and thought provoking. Indeed the non-profit sector may become the leadership of the 21st century that paves the way toward "unleashing" the power within to heal oneself through traditional cultures by way of Body/Mind/Spirit. This serious academic assessment of the Cultural Wellness Center seemed to be quite a struggle for Copeland-Carson as she was challenged by the wholistic approach of the Center and her sometimes linear Anthropological background. Thus the author was "betwixt and between," pulling together information that cannot always be measured. This book is certainly not for bedside reading unless you are serious about academic research in ethnography, identity formation, anthropology, and translocalism. Copeland-Carson was able to conclude that indeed although most people focus on the social ills of the inner city, the glass is "half full" and filling up fast!