A01=Signithia Fordham
academic achievement
academics
african americans
american dream
anthropology
Author_Signithia Fordham
black community
case study
Category=JBSL
Category=JHM
Category=JNL
cities
cultural studies
educators
eq_bestseller
eq_isMigrated=1
eq_isMigrated=2
eq_nobargain
eq_non-fiction
eq_society-politics
ethnography
gender and sexuality
high school
humanity
humanness
ideals
identity
kinship
learning
life
native
othering
parent child relationship
parenthood
policy makers
political concerns
politics
race
racism
schooling
students
united states of america
urban spaces
Product details
- ISBN 9780226257143
- Weight: 624g
- Dimensions: 15 x 23mm
- Publication Date: 01 May 1996
- Publisher: The University of Chicago Press
- Publication City/Country: US
- Product Form: Paperback
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This portrait of student life in an urban high school focuses on the academic success of African-American students, exploring the symbolic role of academic achievement within the Black community and investigating the price students pay for attaining it. Signithia Fordham's ethnography reveals a deeply rooted cultural system that favours egalitarianism and group cohesion over the individualistic, competitive demands of academic success and sheds light on the sources of academic performance. She also details the ways in which the achievements of successful African-Americans are "blacked out" of the public imagination and negative images are reflected onto black adolescents. A self-proclaimed "native" anthropologist, she chronicles the struggle of African-American students to construct an identity suitable to themselves, their peers, and their families within an arena of colliding ideals.
