Harlem on Our Minds: Incomplete in the Best Way Possible

Donovan Brothers and Sisters,

Thank you so much for bearing with us while we constructed our impressions of Harlem on Our Minds. It is finally done, so we hope you enjoy!

Valerie Kinloch's book contained a number of important key points. First of all, as Luis pointed out and we riffed on as conversation for a while, it is notable for its state of incompleteness. The premise of Kinloch's research was to engage students at Harlem High School in action research in their communities. However, her research was fluid and evolved from critical interpretation into concerted local involvement. With the specific issue of gentrification in mind, the author encouraged students to forge their own definitions of what the process meant for them as it happened to their home, with emphasis on connections between place (specifically, Harlem) and identity, and also on documentation of the historically Black community vis a vis white students and professionals taking up temporary, high-rent residency. Conversations among students on "reading" Harlem, particularly with one "literacy learner, soul, singer, and street survivor" named Philip, grew into videoing culturally significant spaces under threat as they changed. Soon students and teachers collaborated on interviewing and surveying those on both sides of the race and class lines of Columbia University's eminent domain-rationalized gentrification (and that of middle class "dancer's through Harlem on the whole), and spoke out at a Tenants Association meeting.

The feeling we got from this book as we discussed it was that it was a constant work in progress; a give and take between student agency and the direction of the facilitator. For future students or teachers looking to read this book, a good idea would be to read it with an open mind and with patience, it does not give clear cut answers on what it means to undertake participatory action research. However, the process of negotiation and growth that occurs with the students and Kinloch is extremely valuable. In the long run, it seems that students were able to fully realize and materialize their voices through a variety of media, something any educator can aspire to.