Student Question
How does Rhodes-Pitts portray the theme of music and listening in Harlem is Nowhere?
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In Harlem is Nowhere, Sharifa Rhodes-Pitts pieced together a cultural history of Harlem through conversations with residents. "I'm good at listening," she writes. "I'm more interested in the person than 'getting the story'" (4). This authentic approach to communication helps her show how listening intently to other people’s honest experiences provides a world of insight into a subject.
In Harlem is Nowhere Sharifa Rhodes-Pitts explores both the role of music in defining Harlem’s cultural identity and the importance of listening to truly understand a subject.
While Rhodes-Pitts touches on the unique role that music has played in shaping Harlem’s culture, her focus is more on the general theme of listening. Consider how the stories in this book come together because of the unique way Rhodes-Pitts listened to those who live in Harlem. She went outside and had conversations with her neighbors and with strangers and pieced the stories she heard together with her own experiences and her research. Throughout the book she reflects on how carefully listening to others enhanced her understanding of their experiences: “I’m good at listening. I listen a lot more than I ask questions...I’m more interested in the person than ‘getting the story.’ So things unfold. Or they don’t.” (4).
Here, Rhodes-Pitts suggests that...
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listening to a person’s story as he or she naturally tells it can be more useful than staging an interview, even if it sometimes does not work out. The way her conversations with people in Harlem educate the reader over the course of the book suggests she was right: “the longer I listened, the clearer he became and the more I understood” (63).
While the above quote refers to Rhodes-Pitts's discussion with Julius Bobby Nelson (who had an impeded form of speech), it also foreshadows how the more she listened to people throughout the book, the more she understood about Harlem.
Overall Rhode-Pitts's methodology itself teaches the reader about how to learn about a subject like Harlem. Listening to the sounds, stories, and histories of a place can provide a unique insight into its identity.
How does Sharifa Rhodes-Pitts explore the theme of music in Harlem Is Nowhere?
“Harlem Is Nowhere” is a 1948 essay written by Ralph Ellison. In the essay, Ellison describes the physical deterioration of the neighborhood and then compared that with the treatment of African Americans. Many years later, Sharifa Rhodes-Pitts wrote a lyrical book by the same title. Born in Houston, Rhodes-Pitts maintained an interest in Harlem and the effect of the Harlem Renaissance on art.
Rhodes-Pitts is aware of the same physical deterioration Ellison wrote about, but it’s difficult to connect a dilapidated view of the neighborhood with the idea of key generational artists. How can a place rife with high levels of crime and poor living conditions produce this type of art? In order to try to approach this theme, Rhodes-Pitts wrote the story in lyrical form. That style allowed her to mirror both the jazz and poetry influences on the neighborhood. She used the lyrical form to mirror the music of Harlem, making its musical heritage permeate the book.
Although the neighborhood of Harlem has been a hotbed for art, there is a new challenge on the horizon. Will real estate companies and gentrification affect the neighborhood? Will companies attempt to capitalize on the artistic reputation and build new homes and apartments that price out the families who make Harlem an artistic place?