Mapping Malcolm

by Najha Zigbi-Johnson (editor)

“For Harlem is where he worked and where he struggled and fought―his home of homes, where his heart was, and where his people are.” Nearly sixty years since the martyrdom of Malcolm X, these words from Ossie Davis’s eulogy remind us that Malcolm’s political and religious beliefs and conceptions of culture have profoundly shaped and been shaped by Harlem. Mapping Malcolm continues the project of reinscribing Malcolm X’s memory and legacy in the present by exploring his commitment to community building and his articulation of a global power analysis as it continues to manifest across New York City today. Mapping Malcolm interrogates the limits and possibilities of the archive as a purveyor of community development, the Black diaspora, and the state through a lens of sovereignty and liberation rooted in the political, material, and philosophical legacy of the Black radical tradition. This book brings together artists, community organizers, and scholars who understand the politics of Black space making in Harlem through a range of historical, cultural, and anti-imperialist worldviews designed to offer new, reparatory pedagogical possibilities. Together, they reconfigure how we understand, employ, and carry forward Malcolm X’s sociopolitical, cross-cultural analyses of justice and power as everyday praxis in the built environment and beyond.

With contributions from Maytha Alhassen, Joshua Bennett, Christopher Benton, Lisa Beyeler-Yvarra, Stephen Burks, Ibrahem Hasan, Marc Lamont Hill, Ladi’Sasha Jones, Jerrell Gibbs, Nsenga Knight, Akemi Kochiyama, Denise Lim, Jaimee Swift, James Tyner, and Darien Williams.

304 pages, Paperback

Published August 27, 2024

Reviews

[Florenz Blancaflor · Rating 5 out of 5]

one of the most gorgeously designed books of all time i cannot get over it. the white space alone made it so easy to read. like any collection of essays, some chapters felt more resonant than others.

standouts:
- the spacial analysis of yuri kochiyama's apartment
- the essay/curated playlist outlining historic collaborations between jazz musicians, malcolm x, and the nation of islam (in boston and harlem !)
- the discussion of bean pie, islam, and eating to live

will be rereading select chapters asap

[Mya · Rating 5 out of 5]

so absolutely entranced by the chapter on Yuri Kochiyama’s kitchen and the axonometric drawings of the apartment, especially the one that depicts Yuri witnessing the meeting between her granddaughter and Malcom X’s daughter. There is something deeply poetic about the kitchen as a traditionally feminine domicile being the site for revolutionary organizing; a real sense of nurturing.

[J Earl · Rating 5 out of 5]

Mapping Malcolm, edited by Najha Zigbi-Johnson, offers the reader insight into not simply Malcolm X's thought but some of the structural elements, both physical and organizational, that helped shape his thought and his activism.

This is definitely a book that will reward revisiting multiple times. You can read this with the idea of better understanding the man and his ideas and be richly rewarded. Yet you will find yourself thinking about how where we live (and the societal structures within which we live) speaks to our place within society more broadly. How much of our ending up where we are was actually personal decision and how much was structured by larger relatively unseen (or at least unrecognized) societal or cultural forces?

If you come to this book less for what it might offer for your own activism and more to simply understand Malcolm X, you'll get a wonderful glimpse at the things that make his legacy so enduring. He never stopped learning and growing, he was about people first and foremost, relationships between individuals and groups played a large part (often with him as the primary conduit). His growth and quest for knowledge was never for knowledge in and of itself but knowledge in service to people. Namely marginalized people within an often-hateful society but knowing that a society that could serve all people would be a better society for all people made this approach essential.

Far too often people's perception of Malcolm X is based on a snapshot of his life, taken at one point and usually without looking at the bigger picture. While this volume won't change those who are determined to cling to narrow opinions, this will help those wanting to understand him and his ideas with an eye toward carrying those ideas forward.

I found myself really drawn to a playlist that is one of the essays included. Partly because I think music can speak volumes and connect the emotional with the rational (not to imply they are totally separate) but more because the essay gives great insight into these works. Definitely take the time to find these and listen.

Reviewed from a copy made available by the publisher via NetGalley.