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Full-Text Articles in Social and Behavioral Sciences
[Review Of] Eve Harris (Director And Producer), Secret Jews Of The Hispanic Southwest, David Gradwohl
[Review Of] Eve Harris (Director And Producer), Secret Jews Of The Hispanic Southwest, David Gradwohl
Ethnic Studies Review
Although this film is short, it is sweet to the eyes and ears. The story is brief and may appear simple, but its ramifications are extensive, reaching back into the distant past and extending from the present into the future regarding complex matters of ethnicity and ethnic identities. The material is particularly significant to those involved in Hispanic and Judaic studies. Beyond those areas, however, the data present some challenges to definitions of ethnicity, the perceived longevity of certain group and individual ethnic identities, and our knowledge of the processes of culture change.
[Review Of] Vernon Williams, Jr., Rethinking Race: Franz Boas And His Contemporaries, Rhett Jones
[Review Of] Vernon Williams, Jr., Rethinking Race: Franz Boas And His Contemporaries, Rhett Jones
Ethnic Studies Review
The term "Jim Crow II" is frequently used by African Americans to describe contemporary American race relations, by which they mean that just as legal segregation, lynching and voting restrictions followed emancipation, so has a period of racist reaction followed the successes of the Civil Rights movement. Williams sees parallels between the two periods: "I have attempted to describe and analyze the ideas of persons who provided, in a time comparable to our own, the bases of sophisticated discussion of race and race relations." Williams is too good a historian to settle for merely demonstrating parallels; he also traces the …
[Review Of] Mary B. Davis, Ed., Native America In The Twentieth Century: An Encyclopedia, David M. Gradwohl
[Review Of] Mary B. Davis, Ed., Native America In The Twentieth Century: An Encyclopedia, David M. Gradwohl
Ethnic Studies Review
This extensive tome, packed with up-to-date information on contemporary Native Americans, is a veritable mother lode for students, teachers, and researchers in American Indian Studies. Scholars in general ethnic studies will find the data useful for comparative work with other ethnic groups. This single-volume encyclopedia should be snapped up by all public and tribal libraries as well as schools and universities wanting to provide their clienteles with sources that are increasingly sought by educational institutions with multicultural curriculum needs and business or administrative offices responding to diversity goals.
[Review Of] Eugene Eoyang, Coat Of Many Colors: Reflections On Diversity By A Minority Of One, Russell Endo
[Review Of] Eugene Eoyang, Coat Of Many Colors: Reflections On Diversity By A Minority Of One, Russell Endo
Ethnic Studies Review
Eoyang's volume is a collection of personal essays that call for a more diverse conception of American culture and society. While the latter, of course, is a familiar if not universally-accepted theme, this actually is an unconventional and highly effective book because of the range of issues it covers and the author's basic writing strategy.
[Review Of] Fred L. Gardaphe, Italian Signs, American Streets: The Evolution Of Italian American Narrative, Lucia Chiavola Birnbaum
[Review Of] Fred L. Gardaphe, Italian Signs, American Streets: The Evolution Of Italian American Narrative, Lucia Chiavola Birnbaum
Ethnic Studies Review
This indispensable interpretation of Italian American narrative literature can fruitfully be used in many ethnic and cultural programs. It is a study distinguished by familiarity with vernacular Italian American culture, as well as consciousness of the losses as well as gains in education in the dominant WASP culture. Trying to reconcile the difference between what Antonio Gramsci called the organic intellectual and the assimilated intellectual, Gardaphe has adopted "a culture-specific criticism that is sensitive to both Italian and American cultures."
[Review Of] Herman Gray, Watching Race: Television And The Struggle For "Blackness,", Clarence Spigner
[Review Of] Herman Gray, Watching Race: Television And The Struggle For "Blackness,", Clarence Spigner
Ethnic Studies Review
Professor Herman Gray offers a fascinating, highly analytical, and well-researched account of race (and gender) mirrored in the prism of televised images. Focusing mostly on the decade of the 1980s, in an almost razzle-dazzle and didactic fashion he explores the deep sociological and political manifestations of televised racial imagery and its effects on the well-being of American society.
[Review Of] Mary Carol Hopkins, Braving A New World: Cambodian (Khmer) Refugees In An American City, Corswang Ngin
[Review Of] Mary Carol Hopkins, Braving A New World: Cambodian (Khmer) Refugees In An American City, Corswang Ngin
Ethnic Studies Review
Cambodians, officially classified as Asian Americans, are a part of this large group which contributes to the country's fastest growing minority population. The Cambodians in Middle City, the pseudonym of a Midwestern city, however, live in a world unlike any resembling those in middle Asian America. They are victims of poverty, of dangerous urban housing and of social isolation. The majority are of poor health, illiterate in English, and too old or too distracted to learn. Hopkins' study of this community is classic ethnography, describing in vivid details the ordinary family and Buddhist ceremonial life of the Cambodians as they …
[Review Of] Paul Kivel, Uprooting Racism: How White People Can Work For Racial Justice, Sandra J. Holstein
[Review Of] Paul Kivel, Uprooting Racism: How White People Can Work For Racial Justice, Sandra J. Holstein
Ethnic Studies Review
Uprooting Racism, by Paul Kivel, is a deceptively simple book which covers a lot of ground. Kivel defines racism, places it in context, specifies its effect on certain groups, and shows how to fight it. He begins with, "This is a book about racism for white people" and goes on to explain what it means to be white in a society which institutionalizes oppression and social injustice based on a definition of "whiteness." Privilege, benefits, seeing whiteness as normative, and tactics which minimize, deny, or avoid responsibility for racism are all discussed succinctly and directly.
[Review Of] Thomas J. Labelle And Christopher R. Ward, Ethnic Studies And Multiculturalism, Otis L. Scott
[Review Of] Thomas J. Labelle And Christopher R. Ward, Ethnic Studies And Multiculturalism, Otis L. Scott
Ethnic Studies Review
Within the barely 133 pages of this book, the authors, LaBelle and Ward, carefully examine the timely, important, and controversial issues swirling around the roles and placement of ethnic studies and multiculturalism in academe. The straightforward examination of the origin of the discipline of ethnic studies and the development of multiculturalism are confined to three parts: "Historical and Conceptual Backdrop," "Multiculturalism and Ethnic Studies: A Contemporary View," and "The Context and Strategies for Addressing Diversity."
[Review Of] David R. Maciel And Isidro D. Ortiz, Eds. , Chicana/Chicanos At The Crossroads: Social, Economic, And Polticial Change, Jorge L. Chinea
[Review Of] David R. Maciel And Isidro D. Ortiz, Eds. , Chicana/Chicanos At The Crossroads: Social, Economic, And Polticial Change, Jorge L. Chinea
Ethnic Studies Review
Judging from the concerns shared by a majority of its contributing authors, the dominant theme throughout this four-part interdisciplinary anthology is the relatively few gains for Chicanas/os since the Brown Power Movement of the 1960s and 1970s. A central theme in Part I concerns the recent influx of Latin American immigrants, a rise among the foreign-born, and the continuing concentration of Chicanos/as amongst the unemployed, the underpaid, and the destitute despite their high labor force participation.
[Review Of] Chon Noriega And Ana M. Lopez, Eds., The Ethnic Eye: Latino Media Arts, Gabriel Haslip-Viera
[Review Of] Chon Noriega And Ana M. Lopez, Eds., The Ethnic Eye: Latino Media Arts, Gabriel Haslip-Viera
Ethnic Studies Review
In recent years, there has been an increased interest in the relationship between the media arts and the Latino communities of the United States. A number of important books and essays have been published on the subject, most notably Chon Noriega, ed. Chicanos and Film: Representation and Resistance (Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 1992), George Hadley-Garcia, Hispanic Hollywood: The Latins in Motion Pictures (New York: Carol Publishing, 1993), and Gary D. Keller, Hispanics and United States Film: An Overview and Handbook (Tempe, Arizona: Bilingual Press, 1994). In fact, there have been so many books, edited collections, and essays published on …
[Review Of] Tey Diana Rebolledo, Women Singing In The Snow: A Cultural Analysis Of Chicana Literature, Maythee Rojas
[Review Of] Tey Diana Rebolledo, Women Singing In The Snow: A Cultural Analysis Of Chicana Literature, Maythee Rojas
Ethnic Studies Review
The first book-length study of the Chicana literary tradition, Women Singing in the Snow: A Cultural Analysis of Chicana Literature is a superb work and salient contribution to Chicana literature and criticism. A companion volume to Infinite Divisions: An Anthology of Chicana Literature (U of Arizona Press 1993), Rebolledo's book takes its metaphorical title from the image of Chicanas using the "blank page" as a means for channeling their creative energies despite the fact that they are often faced with "a cold, inhospitable, and unreceptive culture" (ix). As she notes, "although there have been many attempts to silence Chicanas, they …
[Review Of] Flore Zephir, Haitian Immigrants In Black American: A Sociological And Sociolinguistic Portrait, Aloma M. Mendoza
[Review Of] Flore Zephir, Haitian Immigrants In Black American: A Sociological And Sociolinguistic Portrait, Aloma M. Mendoza
Ethnic Studies Review
Zephir explores Haitians' identification with Americans through the transitional nature of Haitians' ethnicity, roles of languages, the roles of bilingual educational programs, the generational transmission of Haitian ethnicity, and Haitians' and Black Americans' relationships. For historians and sociologists who are unfamiliar with the history of Haiti and Haitians in American, this book is informative and insightful, especially because of its useful maps and tables. Scholars interested in migration and adaptation are provided with helpful demographic information on Haitians' immigration and settlement in America. Very relevant is a critical discussion of Haiti's history and the resulting effects in the behavior and …
[Review Of] Maria P. P. Root, The Multiracial Experience: Racial Borders As The New Frontier, Yolanda Flores Niemann
[Review Of] Maria P. P. Root, The Multiracial Experience: Racial Borders As The New Frontier, Yolanda Flores Niemann
Ethnic Studies Review
Maria Root's collection of readings cognitively and emotionally engage the reader in the psychosocial experience of being multiracial. These readings also foster a critical awareness of the implications of rising numbers of multiracial persons for issues of inter-group race relations and national identity. This awareness forces readers to re-examine the meanings and construction of race beyond the traditional five monoracial categories traditionally used to gather census data.
[Review Of] David A. Hollinger, Postethnic America: Beyond Multiculturalism, Jack Glazier
[Review Of] David A. Hollinger, Postethnic America: Beyond Multiculturalism, Jack Glazier
Ethnic Studies Review
This important volume by the distinguished intellectual historian, David Hollinger, sorts through key multicultural issues and brings a much needed freshness to a very stale, angry debate. In outlining the social contours of a postethnic America, he describes a country less obsessed with race and ethnicity, and open to the forging of social bonds between people of different heritages of descent. Unlike many criticisms of multiculturalism, Hollinger's postethnic vision remains attentive to ethnic difference while pointing up the relevance and value of an American national culture. Those heavily invested in shoring up racial and ethnic boundaries will surely resist the …
[Review Of] Harold A. Mcdougall, Black Baltimore: A New Theory Of Community, And W. Edward Orser, Blockbusting In Baltimore: The Edmondson Village Story, James L. Conyers Jr.
[Review Of] Harold A. Mcdougall, Black Baltimore: A New Theory Of Community, And W. Edward Orser, Blockbusting In Baltimore: The Edmondson Village Story, James L. Conyers Jr.
Ethnic Studies Review
This essay seeks to make a comparative review of two books: 1) Harold A. McDougall's, Black Baltimore: A New Theory of Community; and 2) W. Edward Orser's, Blockbusting in Baltimore: The Edmondson Village Story. The method of procedure used in this review essay will describe and evaluate the organizational structure of the books in a three-fold manner: 1) summary of the texts; 2) use of oral history in the texts; and 3) contribution of books to oral history= literature and conclusion, drawing upon common themes between the two books.
[Review Of] Verad Amit-Talai And Caroline Knowles, Eds. Re-Situating Identities: The Politics Of Race, Ethnicity, And Culture, David Covin
Ethnic Studies Review
While the lead title of this book, Re-Situating Identities, is entirely on target, the subtitle, The Politics of Race, Ethnicity, and Culture, is far off the mark. The book is primarily about identity. It has precious little to do with politics. This might be apparent from the contributors, whom the editors identify as sociologists, anthropologists, and cultural theorists. There is not a political scientist among them. The omission, however, is not necessarily indicative of an absence of politics, because sociologists, anthropologists, and cultural theorists often write good politics. That is not the case in this instance. Though the editors make …
[Review Of] Arjun Appadurai, Modernity At Large, Cultural Dimensions Of Globalization, Hope J. Schau
[Review Of] Arjun Appadurai, Modernity At Large, Cultural Dimensions Of Globalization, Hope J. Schau
Ethnic Studies Review
Modernity at Large is a collection of essays (most of which are reprinted from other sources, e.g., Public Culture) that link the themes of modernity and globalization to contemporary everyday social practice, and to group individual identity construction and expression. Appadurai takes up the conditions of modernity which for him include science as a dominant ideology, obsession with technological development, colonial social relations, and the primacy of national communities. Weaving these conditions with issues of globalization, which he defines as instantaneous worldwide telecommunications (phone, fax, and internet), increased international or transnational migration, the expanding scope and impact of mass media, …