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This last photo of a Black woman leading the parade for the feast of Our Lady of Mount Carmel in Manhattan’s "Italian" Harlem is included here because it demonstrates the power of the visual sociological approach in raising as well as answering questions about urban spaces. Every summer in New York City there is a feast of Our Lady of Mount Carmel in at least four of New York City’s five boroughs. Although they are all the "same" feast, each has a different spatial and symbolic character. All over the world people recognize "Harlem" as an African American urban neighborhood and visualize the space in terms of their knowledge and understanding of the community. Demographically, the neighborhood of Italian Harlem would more accurately called "Spanish" Harlem. The area still contains a few Italian "landmarks" such as Claudio’s barber shop, the home of Vito Marcantonio, Rao’s and Patsy’s Restaurant. As in many other Little Italies, the local feast draws old timers back to the neighborhood, but in this photograph we can see another dynamic; ethnic change not only seen in the signs and symbols of local residential and commercial space, but in the temporary ceremonial space of the feast itself. Many of the participants of this particular version of the feast are Haitian. Our Lady of Mount Carmel is also a major focus of veneration by Haitians and one can speculate as to the point at which this feast will change its "ethnic" identity (See Orsi 1988). |
