A few nice hair extensions and wigs images I found:

DUBLIN AFRO CARNIVAL


Image by infomatique
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’.

A bit of humor...


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