DUBLIN DOCKLANDS


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A few nice images I found:

GRAND CANAL DUBLIN


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GRAND CANAL DUBLIN


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GRAND CANAL DUBLIN


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DUBLIN STREET ART


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Check out these photographs:

SUNLIGHT CHAMBERS – DUBLIN


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MY FAVOURITE BUILDING IN DUBLIN


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TEMPLE BAR DUBLIN


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DUBLIN STREET ART


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Check out these photographs:

DUBLIN PUB


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DUBLIN PUB


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DUBLIN STREET ART


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DUBLIN STREET ART


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A few nice images I found:

DUBLIN AFRO CARNIVAL


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There were two African Music festivals in Dublin on the same day one sponsored by the African community and the other by an African Government (to the best of my knowledge it was Lesotho). I forgot to charge my camera battery so I did not get many good photographs.
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‘Little Africa’; Parnell Street, food and Afro-Irish Identity.

Keith Spiller, Department of Geography University College Cork, College Road Cork Ireland.

The Construction of Place and Identity in ‘Little Africa’

‘Little Africa’ is central to the cohesion of the African identity in Dublin; it presents an area now synonymous with a new identity in the city, a marginal region that has initiated a multicultural perspective to the social geography of Dublin. The African Shops on Parnell Street are spaces of African identity, they offer a micro narrative of how Africans conduct and live their lives in a Dublin setting. The shops are places that are African, Irish influences within the shops are minimal and they are places where Africans can express themselves freely. The geography of these shops is a window into the uninhibited construction of African place and identity in contemporary Dublin.

To understand and gain a sense of the African community in Ireland, one must simply enter the shops and a spatial organisation distinctive to an indigenous culture presents itself. Geographical regions within shops are not unfamiliar to geographers, these areas prove interesting in their use of space and can illuminate preconceived regional functions and sociological traits, i.e. in the domestic home the kitchen as the region of practicality and the dinning room as the region of performance and entertainment if guests arrive. In a similar fashion the regions of African shops differ, into what Goffman would describe as the front and back regions.

The front region of the shop is primarily for the act of transaction and the social functions affiliated with this, it is an area for the customer. Within this area an additional divide is indicated by the counter, as Goffman would comment ‘a moral’ and ‘instrumental’ division (1959,p110). Items behind the counter are concerned with the personal; hair care products, African cosmetics, African wigs, braids and hair extensions. The items in front of the counter are foods, usually displayed with fresh products towards the entrance of the shop and foods of the condensed, dried or frozen variety towards the back. Paul Lubienga elaborates on product position in the shops:

“Hair pieces are kept behind the counter as they’re easy to steal………the food is in a position for handiness……what people want is to the front of the shops.”

Specific product placement is similar to standard displays in western shops, certain items are positioned to lure people to areas of the shop. However, the African shops differ enormously in the aspect of the back region.

The back region is an integral part of the African shops on Parnell Street, it provides a unique geography to the shops. The back region is usually visible from the front region and sofas, chairs and a coffee table generally characterise the area where people sit and socialize. Yet this region is extremely separate to the rest of the shop, it is a private region where uninvited guests do not enter. The Africans freely eat, drink, smoke and converse in this region, it allows them to socialize in a milieu which is uninhibiting.

In the course of my fieldwork, it became apparent that people arrive at the shops purely to socialize in the back region, by-passing the front area. The consistent ebb and flow of people into the area creates a sense of people checking in to say hello, the often brief but regular social contacts serve to construct communal identity. The back regions of the African shops on Parnell Street are a site that is comparably similar to a social club or a Mediterranean plaza. Areas and sites where people often idly chat and pass the time of day. The identity through constant companionship in the back region is solidified into a common cohesion; the social function of the back region is paramount to the construction of the Africa identity and in what is the place of ‘Little Africa’.

DUBLIN AFRO CARNIVAL


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‘Little Africa’; Parnell Street, food and Afro-Irish Identity.

Keith Spiller, Department of Geography University College Cork, College Road Cork Ireland.

Food and African Identity in Ireland

The main proponent for the shops existence on Parnell Street is the sale of African food. The commodity that food is and its consumption are a prerequisite to life and living of all nationalities. Food can prove to be a very distinctive identifier of culture and place. Crang states nation are associated with culinary identifiers “ the French as frogs, the Germans as Krauts, the English as Rosbif……”(Crang,1995,p6). The link to national identity through food is inherent to the African community in Ireland. The availability of authentic African food in Dublin provides a reference point to the identity in an emerging multicultural society. In a comparison, the Irish pub has played a central position in Irish diasporic identity, i.e. the Irish pub in a foreign country is the first port of call for the recently arrived emigrant, a place to reinforce your Irishness and gain information on the receiving culture. For the African identity in Ireland food and meeting around ‘Little Africa’ are what the pint of Guinness and the pub are to the Irish emigrant.

African food and the meal are a reconstitution of African cooking, the atmosphere and cuisine are replicated from the collective social cohesion of consuming a meal in Africa. The fact that authentic African food is eaten in Ireland leads to the identity incorporating its tradition into a new milieu and solidifies its presence before what bell hooks would describe as resistance. The cohesion centres on food for the African community and with food that is consistent with their antecedents, as the effect would not take place through the consumption of bacon and cabbage, for example. The availability of African food is imperative for the African identity in its transition into the Irish culinary and cultural mainstream.

Authentic African food helps in the construction of a disaporic identity in Ireland, but also inadvertently enhances the flow of multiculturalism. The shops are part of a network of culture through the fact African food products are required in Ireland, a commodity circuit is established to facilitate the demands and desire for an availability of African food in Ireland. The food products integrate the networking of ports and cities, to satisfy the demand of the consumers for African food; this firmly places the shops of ‘Little Africa’ into the commodity circuit. Areas like ‘Little Africa’ manifestly establish commodity circuits between distinctly different culinary environments, their presence and their circuits build spaces through which multiculturalism can flow. The flow often expands to the situation where the mainstream of the receiving nation totally incorporates the flow. As exemplified by the success of the number and range of food companies specializing in authentic food on supermarket shelves in Ireland, that were often originally only available in ethnic shops. So where does this locate ‘Little Africa’, will Ireland become a fully multicultural society and develop a site of plurality through African culture and cuisine?

Conclusion

The African shops and their food may be the litmus test that will indicate the speed of the transformation of urban Dublin society into a position of multiculturalism. Food can often prove the simplest way to actively access another culture. The African shops provide authentic African foods to Dublin and their commodity circuits have established the link. There is no doubt an embryonic culinary plurality exists, but the question is will it grow? What was once the hegemonic state of Ireland is now slowly evaporating, Irish attitudes through travel, education and the media are now more accepting of the ‘other’. But not too accepting, as the racial tensions in Parnell Street would indicate. The space of ‘Little Africa’ does however offer a marginal site in the process of urban Irish cultural plurality. I cannot predict whether the integration into Irish society will be total, yet I do predict this site of multiculturalism is something important and will be further explored by Irish geographers in the future.

TEMPLE BAR DUBLIN


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There are 50 arts and cultural organisations based in Temple Bar including: The Gallery of Photography, The Irish Film Institute, Project Arts Centre, The Gaiety School of Acting, The Ark, The Contemporary Music Centre

DUBLIN STREET ART


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A few nice images I found:

DUBLIN AFRO CARNIVAL


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TEMPLE BAR DUBLIN


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Temple Bar Cultural Trust presents around 400 free outdoor cultural events visited by over 60,000 people each year in Temple Bar

TEMPLE BAR DUBLIN


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There are more than 70 specially commissioned works of public art located throughout Temple Bar.