City Road, Cardiff

In your own words, define ‘making and remaking’ and provide one example of this that can be seen on City Road.

City Road has a rich and diverse history and is in a constant state of flux. In ‘making and remaking’ this change can be examined in how it reflects on the social characters that inhabit this urban space, how their interactions contribute to the making and remaking process.

(City Road) ’… continues to be made and remade by migrants from other parts of the UK and from overseas.’ (Blakely and Staples, 2022:p23)

Janet Symmons of Xquisite Africa in suffering an identity crisis whereby she psychologically changed and decided to retouch base with her African roots, questioning the power legacy of colonialism and bringing products from Africa and China to her clients. In rejecting the overlordship of her colonial masters, Janet touches base with her roots and rediscovers Africa. In remaking herself Janet’s journey takes her to the Dark Continent where, remaking herself she gave birth to her Xquisite Africa shop.

As Kath Woodward states: “In the case of Xquisite Africa, it’s also about multiple identities.”(The Open University, 2022)

Janet remakes her identity in retouching base with her African roots and remakes an entire continent with the transnational sources of products she uses. Be it hairpieces from China or authentic African ornaments the globalised is present in her store.

Janet is redressing colonial imbalances in her psyche and her shop become transformational. It is globalised while touching on the local in the everyday lives it makes through her regular customers.

Xquisite Africa is but one example of the much making and remaking of lives on City Road.

References

Blakeley, G. and Staples, M. (2022) ‘The life and times of the street’, in Allen, J., Blakeley, G. and Staples, M. (eds) Understanding social lives, Part 1. Milton Keynes: The Open University, pp. 1–32.

The Open University (2022) ‘The Life and Times of the Street: Part 2’. DD102: Introducing the social sciences. Available at: https://learn2.open.ac.uk/mod/oucontent/view.php?id=1908431&section=2.4 (Accessed: 1 February 2022).

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