A Historical study on qualitative and spatial changes of black communities in twentieth-century New York

2018 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 26370847
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (C)
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Section: 一般
• Research Field: History of Europe and America
• Research Institution: Hokkaido University
• Principal Investigator: Murata Katsuyuki 北海道大学, 文学研究科, 教授 (70322774)
• Project Period (FY): 2014-04-01 – 2019-03-31
• Keywords: 黒人史 / 都市史 / 人種 / アメリカ史 / ニューヨーク / コミュニティ

Outline of Final Research Achievements

This research examines both qualitative and spatial changes of black communities by paying close attention to historical conditions of Central Brooklyn and Harlem, two principal black communities in New York City. The former stands for the issue of who represents dominant black residents there and the latter the shift of spatial boundaries of black communities in the city. Central Brooklyn, where local black population has rapidly exhanced its diversity due to a large-scale influx of black immigrants from the West Indies, and Harlem, where local black residents and college students solidified themselves by standing against Columbia University’s plan of campus expansion into the western edge of the black community, are among several historical cases. They symbolize the interdependent relations between expanding black diversity and structural changes of New York City.

Free Research Field

アメリカ史、アメリカ研究

Academic Significance and Societal Importance of the Research Achievements

多文化共生が今日さまざまな場で叫ばれるなか、多人種多エスニックな社会として知られるアメリカ都市の歴史的経験は非常に示唆的である。従来、ともすれば一枚岩な存在と捉えられてきたアメリカの黒人住民は、とりわけニューヨークにおいては多様性に富んだコミュニティを形成してきた。そうした黒人コミュニティの質的・空間的変動に注目した本研究は、多様性や変化をポジティブなものとして捉えることを可能にするとともに、社会的な紐帯や連帯を考えるにあたって有意義な視座となるだろう。