Ethnic Studies books

This is the first of two volumes that specifically addresses the subject of the disproportional decline of Black American Males in higher education. For too long, acknowledgment of this issue has been avoided for fear that it would be clearly and too painfully felt. It is apparent that this issue can no longer be ignored and the need to examine and widely address this situation is now so vivid. This volume, and the next, forthrightly discuss and address the conditions that can be observed today. Collectively, the contributing authors provide critical historical overviews and analyses pertaining to Black American males in higher education and Black Americans of both genders. The contributing authors provide data from which conclusions can be drawn, discussion of the effectiveness of programs, conceptual pieces that address the issue of the presence or lack thereof of Black American males in higher education from a range of perspectives, and the role of the community colleges.

Since 1976, increased attention has been paid to the diminishing numbers of Black males in higher education, and rightly so: the total numerical enrollments of Black female undergraduates has outstripped their male counterparts by a factor of nearly 2 to 1. Since intervention, however, the enrollment growth rate among Black males (60 per cent) exceeded that of Black females (40 per cent) (NCES, 2008). Needless to say, this good news was welcomed by many. However, as Cole & Guy-Sheftall (2003) have pointed out, it may be misguided to assume that improving the status of black men will single-handedly solve all the complex problems facing African American communities. Are we indirectly neglecting Black females? And what of their future? The purpose of "Black Female Undergraduates on Campus" is to identify both successes and challenges faced by Black female students accessing and matriculating through institutions of higher education. In illuminating the interactive complexities between persons and place, this volume is aimed toward garnering an understanding of the educational trajectories and experiences of Black females, independent of and in comparison to their peers. Special attention is paid to women pursuing careers in the high demand fields of teacher education and STEM.

This book is about how to trigger the capacity to aspire among black youth. Examining the transition out of adulthood and imagined futures of black youth, Maja helps us understand how black youth aspirations might be raised, and how a better future for young people can be achieved.   Black Youth Aspirations tracks the journeys of nine black teenagers in South Africa, and how they navigate their way through the final two years of schooling. Maja explores and discovers the maps of the future that youths envision, and investigates how their immediate environments in and out of school serve as instruments that help them interpret, navigate, and manifest those aspirations. Presenting a new conceptual tool, OATS (Objects, Agency, Tools, and Spaces), seeks to provide practical meaning on how to best develop young people’s capacity to aspire. Filling it gap in the scholarly literature, and digging deeper than the statistics ever could, this book is a dynamic interaction between research among youth and the application of concepts to make sense of their stories. As the first book that discusses the aspirational pathways of working class black youth in the context of the global south, the theoretical and research approaches on which the book is based make it an exciting and novel addition to the global literature in the area of youth studies.

As the global COVID-19 pandemic that broke out over two years ago is showing signs of relenting, and the world’s attention draws towards yet another military conflict in Ukraine, the roles of crisis communication and media research couldn’t be more critical. These roles, particularly in a post-truth and post-COVID era, call for new knowledge and enlightenment around discourses on: the infodemic of misinformation, information and communication rights, the role of online social networks, critical media literacy and the changes occuring in media and journalism ecosystems.  Drawing on the region’s distinct geo-political, economic, socio-cultural and technological contexts, COVID-19 and the Media in Sub-Saharan Africa brings together diverse interdisciplinary and multi-country perspectives, innovative methodologies as well rigorous theoretical and empirical analyses. The volume helps us deconstruct COVID-19 discourses on crisis communication and media developments focusing on three areas: Media viability, Framing and Health crisis communication. The chapters unpack issues on marginalisation, gender, media sustainability, credibility, priming, trust, sources, behavioural change, mental health, (mis)information, vaccine hesitancy and myths and more. Ultimately, this volume roots for sustainable and quality journalism, human (information and communication) rights, commitment to truth and efficacious (health) crisis communication. It is an excellent resource for academics, media industry, Journalism and media students, public health communication specialists, policy and advocacy groups in the region and globally.

Does the Black Middle Class Exist And Are We Members makes two contributions into the research of the Black Middle Class. First, it explores how Black South Africans conceptualize middle classness. Second, it demonstrates how this conceptualization informs researchers’ social identity within the Black middle class.  The book draws on historical social science literature for theoretical grounding and focuses on enriching theoretical perspectives on race and class from the perspective of the interviewee and the interviewer. It contextualizes both subjective and objective definitions of the term ‘middle class’ while highlighting it’s constantly shifting perception.  Does the Black Middle Class Exist And Are We Members reflects on the experience of the researchers interviews with Black middle class of South Africa. These reflections give a unique approach in understanding how researcher’s subjectivism reflects the experiences of the South African Middle class.

The papers in this volume, the fourth in the series International Research in the Business Disciplines, provide a broad survey of the nature and scope of entrepreneurship within ethnic groups. Of particular interest, the contributors address the role of ethnic entrepreneurship in shaping the structure of modern economies. Ethnicity has heretofore been given less attention in entrepreneurship research than its importance might seem to warrant due largely to the prevalence of the assimilation hypothesis: the assumption that everyone, without regard to ethnicity, works as a producer in the general economy and buys as a consumer from the general economy. The economic uniformity implied by this assumption invites critical comment. In five parts, the collection explores aspects of ethnic entrepreneurship as both part of the structure of the general economy and in terms of the process of movement toward or away from assimilation. The collection features a comprehensive new study of ethnic entrepreneurship by Ivan Light. Additional highlights include examination of structural variables and abstract models, analysis of the components of the definition of ethnicity, consideration of impacts on assimilation, and finally, the relevance of access to financial capital provided by the general economy. Researchers are bringing new insights and methods to the phenomena of ethnic producers and consumers of ethnic products dependent on ethnic market mechanisms. This volume makes a significant contribution to this research.

There is nothing wrong with the tribe just as there is nothing wrong with the nation. After all, modern nations are macro-tribes and tribes are micro-nations. So, if there is national obligation then there can be tribal obligation. Ethnos Oblige: Theory and Evidence outlines how these ethnic obligations of individuals manifest and determine positive and negative outcomes to them, their organizations, and societies. Focusing on psychological perspectives and proposing a new theoretical approach to help understand why individuals behave the way they do, both in work and non-work contexts, Ethnos Oblige offers readers a new perspective to reconsider ethnicity. Taking as its primary focus management practices based on extensive empirical evidence from primary and secondary data gathered from across Africa, the book investigates the cultural context through the lens of different ethnic groups, and the lingering effects of colonial legacy as manifested in post-colonial behaviors across differing industrial and cultural sectors. Dr. Zoogah presents revelatory findings on the drivers of ethnic identity and related contingencies, as well as suggestions for organizational implications for employee relations, organization behavior, institutional entrepreneurship and overall business strategy.

For people born to parents from two socially distinctive racial groups, the answer to the question of racial identity can be far from straightforward. Exploring the lived experiences of the ‘mixed-race’ population group in Scotland, a country with distinctive national identity, this book examines how mixed Scots obtain an understanding of self through interacting with others within and beyond their home. Focusing on the impact of the family on the formation of mixed identities, this book breaks fresh ground, becoming one of the few sociological studies that brings together perspectives from mixed individuals and parents of mixed children. The book pays close attention to how members within ‘mixed-race’ families respond differently to everyday encounters of race and negotiate the greater shaping forces from wider society. Using illustrative cases drawn from in-depth interviews across a two-year period, the author offers a vibrant picture of ‘mixed-race’ experiences in modern Scotland, unravelling the complex interplay of race, social class, and imagined boundaries of Scottishness. Approaching the question of identity through a lens that combines interactionist and intersectional perspectives, Mengxi Pang invites readers to unravel the process of identity-making and its intricacies.

Winner of the 2020 Mid-South Sociological Association Stanford M. Lyman Distinguished Book Award. Contributing to an emerging literature on mixed-race people in the United States and United Kingdom, this book draws on racial formation theory and the performativity (i.e. "doing") of race to explore the social construction of mixedness on both sides of the Atlantic Ocean. In addition to macro- and micro-level theoretical frameworks, the authors use comparative and relational analytical approaches to reveal similarities and differences between the two nations, explaining them in terms of both common historical roots as well as ongoing contemporary interrelationships. Focusing on the census, racial identity, civil society, and everyday experiences at the intersection of race, gender, class, and sexuality, Mixed-Race in the US and UK: Comparing the Past, Present, and Future offers academics and students an intriguing look into how mixed-race is constructed and experienced within these two nations. A final in-depth discussion on the authors’ research methodologies makes the book a useful resource on the processes, challenges, and benefits of conducting qualitative research in two nations.

For over thirty years, a political and social battle over bilingual education raged in the U.S. and in and around the Crow Indian Reservation of Montana. This book, a period piece rich in political, historical, and local western context, is the story of language, education, inequality and power clashes between the dominant society and the Indian tribe as historical events unfolded.  This is a classic ethnography that documents eight years of the author’s day-to-day experience as a teacher, bilingual education coordinator, and central office administrator during the socio-political dispute. The author showcases the familial, linguistic, and ancestral place-based strengths of the Crow families that empowered children to succeed in school against the odds, providing a secure foundation for their future leadership within the tribe. In doing this, the author builds strong support for bridging Native and Euro-American philosophies within a bilingual framework.  This book is important reading for teachers, administrators, and policy-makers. It provides hope, ideas, and concrete actions for those who would engage in change management to improve learning environments and better serve diverse students.