Mapping Diaspora from Within: Black Spatial Approaches for Studying East African Place-Making

• In Event: New Horizons in Black Geographies: Charting Unexplored Terrains of Diaspora, Ecology, and Resistance

Description for Program

This paper examines how methodological frameworks within black geographies can illuminate the spatial practices of Ethiopian and Eritrean communities in Los Angeles's Little Ethiopia. Drawing on research supported by the Mellon Foundation's UC Berkeley Black Studies Collaboratory, I reflect critically on the methodological challenges and innovations that emerged while documenting diasporic place-making processes. The study employs a multi-layered approach combining participatory mapping, sensory ethnography, and community archiving—methodological tools that center Black spatial knowledge production and challenge traditional geographies of containment. By privileging embodied knowledge through coffee ceremonies, communal meals, and everyday gathering practices, this methodological framework reveals how East African immigrants create alternative cartographies that exist alongside, yet distinct from, official spatial designations. This paper explores how black geographies as a methodology provide unique tools for capturing the fluidity of diasporic spaces while respecting the autonomy of community knowledge production.

Author

• Alexandra Gessesse, UC Berkeley