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Ethnic Identity On Display: West Indian Youth And The Creation Of Ethnic Boundaries In High School, Bedelia N. Richards
Ethnic Identity On Display: West Indian Youth And The Creation Of Ethnic Boundaries In High School, Bedelia N. Richards
Sociology and Anthropology Faculty Publications
The black immigrant population in New York City has grown exponentially since 1990, such that West Indians now compose the majority of the black population in several neighbourhoods. This article examines how this ethnic density manifests among youth in high school, and how it has influenced ethnic identity formation among second-generation West Indians. My findings are based on twenty-four interviews and eight months of participant observation in two Brooklyn high schools from 2003 to 2004. The results show that in both schools, Caribbean island identities have become a ‘cool’ commodity within peer groups. Further, although it was important to express …
Religion And The Politics Of Ethnic Identity In Bahia, Brazil (Book Review), Jan Hoffman French
Religion And The Politics Of Ethnic Identity In Bahia, Brazil (Book Review), Jan Hoffman French
Sociology and Anthropology Faculty Publications
Stephen Selka investigates the role of religion in encouraging, or discouraging, the formation of black identity in Bahia, the Brazilian state that is regarded as the center of Afro-Brazilian culture, religion, and politics. As he strives to understand and theorize the crucial, but complex, relationship between religion and what he terms "Afro-Brazilian identity," Selka describes how adherents of the three primary religious trends in Bahia (Catholicism, Candomble, and evangelical Protestantism) view the effects of their religious institutions on the construction of that identity. This question is addressed through selected quotes from leaders and members of the respective religious groups (and …
Hybrid Identities In The Diaspora: Second Generation West Indians In Brooklyn, Bedelia N. Richards
Hybrid Identities In The Diaspora: Second Generation West Indians In Brooklyn, Bedelia N. Richards
Sociology and Anthropology Faculty Publications
How does ethnic identity manifest among contemporary second-generation West Indian youth? In this essay I argue that the ethnic identities of post-1990s second-generation West Indian youth in Brooklyn are best characterized as “hybrid identities.” Diaspora communities like the one created by West Indian immigrants in Brooklyn provide ideal conditions for the development of hybrid identities, the fusion of two or more cultures coexisting in a single individual (Smith and Leavy, 2008). In addition to the question already posed, this paper will explicate how second-generation West Indian youth experience, make sense of and express the inherent complexity of identities that emerge …