''Where the Mask Ends and the Face Begins Is Not Certain'': Mediating Ethnicity and Cheating Geography in Jonny Steinberg's Little Liberia

Abstract

Mixing historical commentary, reportage, biography and personal stories, South African writer Jonny Steinberg takes up the tale of a fractured African nation and its diaspora in Little Liberia: An African Odyssey in New York City (2011). The "little Liberia" founded in New York's urban jungle may have represented, for many of its inhabitants, a way to "cheat geography" by recreating a home away from home, but Little Uberia shows the reader it has not allowed them to cheat history. The book deals with the lives of two inhabitants of Park Hill Avenue on Staten Island, where nearly everyone is Liberian. Their conflict threatens to implode the community, ignit­ing suspicions and accusations that had been bottled up since their exile. The article focuses on the interface of mediated ethnicity and citizenship related to the struggle for power in the diasporic Liberian community on Staten Island. Attention is also paid to feelings of identity of Little Liberia's author.

Opsomming
Met 'n mengelmoes van historiese kommentaar, verslaggewing, biografiese en per­soonlike stories vertel Suid-Afrikaanse outeur Jonny Steinberg die verhaal van 'n gebroke Afrika-volk in Little Liberia: An African Odyssey in New York City (2011). "Little Liberia" wat in die betonoerwoud New York ontstaan het, is vir baie van sy inwoners 'n manier om "geografie te flous" deur 'n tuiste weg van hul vaderland te skep. Little Liberia laat die leser egter sien dat die geskiedenis self nie om die bos gelei kan word nie. Die boek beskryf die lewens van twee inwoners van Park Hill Avenue op Staten Island, waar byna alma! Liberiaans leef. Die konflik tussen hierdie twee dreig om onderdrukte gevoelens van suspisie en beskuldingings wat opgekrop is sedert die begin van hul ballingskap te laat ontplof en die gemeenskap te ver­nietig. Die artikel fokus op die raakvlak van bemiddelde etnisiteit en burgerskap gekoppel aan die magstryd in die ontwortelde Liberiese gemeenskap op Staten Eiland. Daar word ook aandag geskenk aan die identiteitsgevoelens van die outeur van Little Liberia.