Ethnicity and Race in a Changing World

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Ethnicity and Race in a Changing World: A Review JournalHealth and Social CareHousing and PlanningMigration, Immigration and the Refugee ExperiencePolitics and GovernmentMORE THAN JUST RACE: BEING BLACK AND POOR IN THE INNER CITYWilliam Julius WilsonPublisher: WW Norton and Co IncYear: 2009Pagination: 208ppISBN: 978-0393067057Price: £17.99More Than Just Race addresses three most-pressing racial problems currently facing the US – namely,the persistence of the inner-city ghetto, the plight of low-skilled Black males, and the rupture of theAfrican American family. With this in mind, the author examines the broader socio-economic climatewhich both sustains and perpetuates these problems, highlighting how forces of global and nationalchange have been especially hard-hitting for vulnerable inner-city Black communities. There followsan open and honest dialogue about why poverty and unequal opportunity persists in the lives ofAfrican Americans.Chapter one engages a multiple approach to exploring racial inequality, focusing both on thestructural processes and the cultural forces at work. Here, the author states that it is a combination ofstructural racism and cultural attitudes which have led to limited economic and social opportunitiesfor young Black males. The fallout of this has been a disproportionately high rate of poverty, crimeand incarceration which, it is claimed here, informs negative cultural responses towards young blackmales. This is tied to the continued legacy of historic racial subjugation, which is manifested througha range of complex factors that both create and reinforce racial inequality. The author makes aconvincing case for the need to consider cultural factors in addition to social analysis.Subsequently there is an analysis of structural forces that contribute to the social processesinforming racial group outcomes, which have tended to be overlooked. In other words, the culturalforces – such as community views and beliefs – have tended to be ignored for fear of ‘blaming thevictim’.Chapter two focuses on the forces which shape concentrated poverty in urban areas. This isfollowed by a consideration of the economic plight of inner-city black male. Chapter four discussesthe fragmentation of poor Black families. The book concludes by summarising the issues pertainingto structure and culture.Also relates to:Criminal Justice and Racial ViolenceEmploymentHealth and Social CareHousing and PlanningPolitics and GovernmentEDUCATIONRECASTING RACE: WOMEN OF MIXED HERITAGE IN FURTHER EDUCATIONI. A. DewanPublisher: London. Trentham Books LtdYear: 2008Pagination: 164ppISBN: 9781858564050Price: £19.99In her book, Indra Angeli Dewan challenges theories of race and mixed race identity found insociological literature and examines discourses around personhood and equity evident in recentFurther Education (FE) policy. Dewan questions whether women’s identity constructions correspond66
Ethnicity and Race in a Changing World: A Review Journalwith academic theories and popular discourse around mixed heritage identity. She also explores theextent to which women’s experience of, and views on, education, correspond with UK governmentdiscourses on education.The research is based on data from interviews with forty mixed heritage women studyingin FE colleges in ethnically diverse and mainly working class areas of London. She uses discourseanalysis to explore how dominant discourses such as essentialism, postmodernism and individualismare embedded within the women’s praxis of language.Dewan has an antiracist feminist agenda and adopts the standpoint that racialised identitiesare the constructed product of historical, social and political processes. She argues that unequalpower relations tend to make mixed heritage women marginalised and discriminated against. Sheaims to show how women’s experiences may inform theory and how theory can be used to furtherfeminist and antiracist projects, in particular those that seek to advance quality and justice for womenof mixed heritage.Identifying sociological literature on mixed race, Dewan begins by outlining how discoursehas ‘drawn largely on postmodern notions of identity to highlight the socially constructed, fluidand highly complex nature of mixed heritage identities’. However, she argues that the theory ofpostmodernism is difficult to sustain in light of her findings. She demonstrates that, whilst many ofthe women advocated the idea of defining themselves as mixed race, they drew strongly on notionsof fixed racial heritage. Thus, Dewan concludes that their talk does not reflect the commonly heldassumption that people of mixed heritage epitomise the postmodern subject.Dewan also finds that the women revealed how discourses of individualism and raceessentialism could exist together, contrary to the view that individualised identities are at odds withessentialist formations of selfhood. She argues then, that the discourses of essentialism, pluralismand individualism are mutually inclusive rather than competing with each other, and were drawnupon by the women in a variety of interconnecting ways.Dewan’s exploration of the women’s experience of, and views on, F E shows that the women’stalk reflected policy. Dewan concludes that they had ‘bought into government discourses’ as theyreiterated the discourse on the value of education, learning as investment, equality of opportunityand the belief in a meritocratic vision of society.The book is structured in nine chapters. It begins by explaining the research process and byproviding a review of existing sociological and feminist studies around mixed heritage identity. It goeson to discuss in detail the women’s reflections on identity, followed by a discussion that compareseducation policy and government discourse and the women’s views on education. Finally, the bookconcludes by drawing together the key themes around identity and education and considers theimplications of the findings for policy and antiracist feminist projects.Also relates to:Culture, Identity, Gender and RelationshipsHistorySocial TheoryIT’S NOT JUST ABOUT BLACK AND WHITE, MISS: CHILDREN’S AWARENESS OF RACESally Elton-ChalcraftPublisher: Trentham Book LimitedYear: 2009Pagination: 176ppISBN: 978-1858564371Price: £18.99It’s Not Just About Black and White, Miss draws on extensive interviews with primary school children.The research itself was conducted with a sample group of nine and ten year-olds across four schools– two of which had a predominately White student population and two of which had a more mixedstudent population. As such, the research centres on the attitudes and opinions of the childrenthemselves as a means of investigating what children today have to say about cultural and racialdiversity. In sum, the book highlights the importance of listening to children’s views, especially with67
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