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Money Has No Smell: The Africanization of New York City
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Money Has No Smell: The Africanization of New York City Hardcover - 2002 - 1st Edition

by Paul Stoller


From the publisher

In February 1999 the tragic New York City police shooting of Amadou Diallo, an unarmed street vendor from Guinea, brought into focus the existence of West African merchants in urban America. In Money Has No Smell, Paul Stoller offers us a more complete portrait of the complex lives of West African immigrants like Diallo, a portrait based on years of research Stoller conducted on the streets of New York City during the 1990s. Blending fascinating ethnographic description with incisive social analysis, Stoller shows how these savvy West African entrepreneurs have built cohesive and effective multinational trading networks, in part through selling a simulated Africa to African Americans. These and other networks set up by the traders, along with their faith as devout Muslims, help them cope with the formidable state regulations and personal challenges they face in America. As Stoller demonstrates, the stories of these West African traders illustrate and illuminate ongoing debates about globalization, the informal economy, and the changing nature of American communities.

From the rear cover

In February 1999 the tragic New York City police shooting of Amadou Diallo, an unarmed street vendor from Guinea, brought into focus the existence of West African merchants in urban America. In Money Has No Smell, Paul Stoller offers us a more complete portrait of the complex lives of West African immigrants like Diallo, a portrait based on years of research Stoller conducted on the streets of New York City during the 1990s. As Stoller demonstrates, the stories of these West African traders illustrate and illuminate ongoing debates about globalization, the informal economy, and the changing nature of American communities.

Details

  • Title Money Has No Smell: The Africanization of New York City
  • Author Paul Stoller
  • Binding Hardcover
  • Edition number 1st
  • Edition 1
  • Pages 232
  • Volumes 1
  • Language ENG
  • Publisher University of Chicago Press
  • Date 2002-04
  • Illustrated Yes
  • Features Bibliography, Illustrated, Index, Maps
  • ISBN 9780226775296 / 0226775291
  • Weight 1.02 lbs (0.46 kg)
  • Dimensions 9.22 x 6.36 x 0.91 in (23.42 x 16.15 x 2.31 cm)
  • Themes
    • Cultural Region: Mid-Atlantic
    • Cultural Region: Northeast U.S.
    • Ethnic Orientation: African American
    • Geographic Orientation: New York
    • Locality: New York, N.Y.
  • Library of Congress subjects New York (N.Y.) - Social conditions, New York (N.Y.) - Ethnic relations
  • Library of Congress Catalog Number 2001053384
  • Dewey Decimal Code 305.896

Media reviews

Citations

  • Library Journal, 05/01/2002, Page 110

About the author

Paul Stoller is a professor of anthropology at West Chester University of Pennsylvania. He is the author of a number of books, most recently Sensuous Scholarship and Jaguar: A Story of Africans in America, the latter published by the University of Chicago Press.