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Full-Text Articles in Sociology

[Review Of] Alma Luz Villanueva. The Ultraviolet Sky, Julie Schrader Villegas Jan 1991

[Review Of] Alma Luz Villanueva. The Ultraviolet Sky, Julie Schrader Villegas

Explorations in Sights and Sounds

Villanueva's first novel portrays the difficulties of self-affirmation and the struggle to understand and come to terms with a multi-faceted identity despite the single-minded conventions of society. Rosa, an artist of Mexican and German heritage, struggles to create herself and find a home where all her fragmented selves can rest. Through dreams, her relationship with her husband Julio, and her struggle to paint an obscure ultraviolet sky, she begins to explore her identities and to trust where they will lead her. She chooses to follow her "wolf' who whines and claws at her consciousness and only awakens fully in her …

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[Review Of] Maryse Conde. A Season In Rihata, Phillipa Kafka Jan 1991

[Review Of] Maryse Conde. A Season In Rihata, Phillipa Kafka

Explorations in Sights and Sounds

Born and now residing in Guadaloupe [Guadeloupe], Dr. Conde received the Grand Prix de Litteraire de la Femme from France for her contributions to Caribbean literature (an interesting honor, in view of Conde's perception of France as cynically instrumental in the destruction and dismemberment of African civilization).

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[Review Of] Mariano Azuela. The Underdogs, Silvester J. Brito Jan 1991

[Review Of] Mariano Azuela. The Underdogs, Silvester J. Brito

Explorations in Sights and Sounds

The Underdogs (Los De Abajo) is a classic novel of the Mexican Revolution. The foreword briefly covers Mexican history, from Spanish Conquest to Independence to Revolution. Its purpose is to focus upon the main sociopolitical and economic problems of the Mexican Revolution.

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[Review Of] Rudolfo A. Anaya. Heart Of Aztlan, Glen M. Kraig Jan 1991

[Review Of] Rudolfo A. Anaya. Heart Of Aztlan, Glen M. Kraig

Explorations in Sights and Sounds

Heart of Aztlan is a novel which portrays life in Barelas, a barrio of Albuquerque, during the post-Korean War period. While the characters within the novel are fictitious, the situations in which they found themselves were only too real. The mood of the novel was one of hope while the characters continually found themselves in a situation of apparent hopelessness. The author's dedication, perhaps better than any other words, summed up this seeming paradox. "This book is dedicated to the good people of Barelas ... and to people everywhere who have struggled for freedom, dignity, and the right to self …

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[Review Of] Lance Henson. Selected Poems, 1970-1983, Abby H. Werlock Jan 1991

[Review Of] Lance Henson. Selected Poems, 1970-1983, Abby H. Werlock

Explorations in Sights and Sounds

A previously published Native American poet, Lance Henson, a Cheyenne, evokes traditional Native American characters, customs, and beliefs and demonstrates the tension between the new and the old, attempting to reconcile a traditional closeness to the land and to the past with apparently incongruent modern phenomena.

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[Review Of] Bienvenido L. Lumbera. Tagalog Poetry: 1570-1898, Cruz Skinner Jan 1991

[Review Of] Bienvenido L. Lumbera. Tagalog Poetry: 1570-1898, Cruz Skinner

Explorations in Sights and Sounds

Bienvenido Lumbera, in his Preface to this survey of Tagalog poetry, apologizes for the shortcomings of his book. Originally written twenty years ago as a doctoral dissertation, it does not take into account new information on Tagalog poetry and its discussion of precolonial poetry does not include new data on the oral poetry of contemporary Filipino groups. "I have bailed myself out," say Lumbera, "by persuading myself that many scholarly sins could be forgiven under the rubric of 'pioneering.''' And indeed these omissions can be forgiven for what the reader gains in return is a pioneering study describing and analyzing …

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[Review Of] Jacqueline Pope. Biting The Hand That Feeds Them: Organizing Women On Welfare At The Grass Roots Level, Mary Ann Busch Jan 1991

[Review Of] Jacqueline Pope. Biting The Hand That Feeds Them: Organizing Women On Welfare At The Grass Roots Level, Mary Ann Busch

Explorations in Sights and Sounds

As a social worker by training and practice, I found this book of great interest. I would highly recommend the text for second-year social work classes and especially for social work policy classes as a supplementary text. I believe that it would also be appropriate for an introductory women's study class as a supplementary text. Due to the cost of the text, I recommend that instructors place the volume on reserve rather than have the students individually purchase the book. The author chronicles the welfare rights movement in Brooklyn, New York, during the late sixties and early seventies in her …

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[Review Of] Oscar Hijuelos. The Mamba Kings Play Songs Of Love, Cortland P. Auser Jan 1991

[Review Of] Oscar Hijuelos. The Mamba Kings Play Songs Of Love, Cortland P. Auser

Explorations in Sights and Sounds

Hijuelos' novel, a Pulitzer Prize winner, earns it laurels through the author's craftsmanship. Its unusual flashback structure, its characterizations of the two Castillo brothers, and its many pages of lyrical prose are praiseworthy. Many readers will enjoy this story of the rise and fall in the careers of two Cuban musicians who flourished in the "Desi Arnaz era."

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[Review Of] Ann Allen Shockley, Ed. Afro-American Women Writers: 1746-1933. An Anthology And Critical Guide, Mary Young Jan 1991

[Review Of] Ann Allen Shockley, Ed. Afro-American Women Writers: 1746-1933. An Anthology And Critical Guide, Mary Young

Explorations in Sights and Sounds

Despite almost four hundred years of racism, sexism and classism, Afro-American women have managed to sustain contact with their creative muses and with the needs and aspirations of their people. Frequently, these creative and activist women have been neglected by both Euro-American and Afro-American male critics. Additionally, with few exceptions these women writers have been excluded from the canon of Afro-American literature. Ann Allen Shockley has tried to remedy this situation in this anthology.

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[Review Of] Charles Green And Basil Wilson. The Struggle For Black Empowerment In New York City, Otis L. Scott Jan 1991

[Review Of] Charles Green And Basil Wilson. The Struggle For Black Empowerment In New York City, Otis L. Scott

Explorations in Sights and Sounds

This book by Charles Green and Basil Wilson is most informative. The authors, a sociologist and a political scientist respectively, draw upon the research and reporting methods of their disciplines in bringing forth a comprehensive interdisciplinary social science examination of the melodrama that is politics in New York City.

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[Review Of] Joyce Moss And George Wilson. Peoples Of The World: North Americans-The Cultural, Geographical Setting And Historical Background Of 37 North American Peoples, Harriet Ottenheimer Jan 1991

[Review Of] Joyce Moss And George Wilson. Peoples Of The World: North Americans-The Cultural, Geographical Setting And Historical Background Of 37 North American Peoples, Harriet Ottenheimer

Explorations in Sights and Sounds

This is a disappointing book. It might even be a dangerous book. Disappointing because although it looks like a reference book, it turns out to have too many errors to be of much use in that fashion. Dangerous because if it finds its way into school libraries, then many of those errors will invariably find their way into student papers and student minds. Almost to add insult to injury, in what I assume is an attempt to provide a simple, readable text to a wide (and perhaps school-aged) population, the writers have adopted a remarkably awkward style. Some examples should …

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[Review Of] Frank R. Parker. Black Votes Count: Empowerment In Mississippi After 1965, Calvin E. Harris Jan 1991

[Review Of] Frank R. Parker. Black Votes Count: Empowerment In Mississippi After 1965, Calvin E. Harris

Explorations in Sights and Sounds

From a broad perspective, Parker discusses the political impact of the Voting Rights Act of 1965. Thus, as he notes in his opening comments, "Since 1965 America has witnessed a renaissance of black participation" in the political process. His central focus is on the impact it had on the state of Mississippi. Throughout his discussion he examines the court challenges directed at forcing the various southern states to live up to the 14th and 15th amendments to the Constitution. The Voting Rights Act of 1965, however, symbolizes local grass roots pressures taken in concert with legal challenges and thus highlights …

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[Review Of] James P. Comer, M. D. Maggie's American Dream: The Life And Times Of A Black Family, Shirley J. Yee Jan 1991

[Review Of] James P. Comer, M. D. Maggie's American Dream: The Life And Times Of A Black Family, Shirley J. Yee

Explorations in Sights and Sounds

Maggie's American Dream is a poignant story about the struggles and achievements of the Comer family from the early decades of the twentieth century to the present. Dr. Comer presents his family's history through the use of side-by-side autobiographies, his mother's and his own. The purpose of the book is to capture the vision and personal struggles of Comer's mother, Maggie, and the efforts by her children to fulfill her and her husband Hugh's goal to obtain a college education and pursue professional careers. The book begins with Maggie's oral narrative, a collection of interviews that James had compiled over …

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[Review Of] Ellen Carol Dubois And Vicki L. Ruiz, Eds. Unequal Sisters: A Multicultural Reader In U. S. Women's History, Guadalupe Friaz Jan 1991

[Review Of] Ellen Carol Dubois And Vicki L. Ruiz, Eds. Unequal Sisters: A Multicultural Reader In U. S. Women's History, Guadalupe Friaz

Explorations in Sights and Sounds

Edited by Ellen C. DuBois and Vicki L. Ruiz, two respected historians, Unequal Sisters: A Multicultural Reader in U.S. Women's History is a welcome response to the call for a more complex approach to women's history. Central to this approach are the integration of women of color into women's history and a definition of community that reflects both conflict and concord.

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[Review Of] Anne Wette Garland. Women Activists: Challenging The Abuse Of Power, Allene Jones Jan 1991

[Review Of] Anne Wette Garland. Women Activists: Challenging The Abuse Of Power, Allene Jones

Explorations in Sights and Sounds

Women Activists is a long overdue book of stories written by women who have been involved in community political activities. The author, Anne Wette Garland, is to be commended for her ability to organize the stories told by fourteen women in an organized and interesting manner.

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[Review Of] Farida Karodia. Coming Home And Other Stories, Phillipa Kafka Jan 1991

[Review Of] Farida Karodia. Coming Home And Other Stories, Phillipa Kafka

Explorations in Sights and Sounds

In Coming Home and Other Stories, Farida Karodia, South African born author now residing in Canada, has written a classic text which I recommend for use in African, contemporary, world literature, and women's studies courses.

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[Review Of] Trinh T. Minh-Ha. Woman, Native, Other: Writing Postcoloniality And Feminism, Patricia Grimshaw Jan 1991

[Review Of] Trinh T. Minh-Ha. Woman, Native, Other: Writing Postcoloniality And Feminism, Patricia Grimshaw

Explorations in Sights and Sounds

In Woman, Native, Other, Trinh T. Minh-ha has taken on an ambitious task, which is to explain something of the problems confronting non-Western women writers who publish and are subjected to critiques within the established paradigms of Western scholarly discourses. Must she and her fellows position themselves as "writer of color," "woman writer," or "woman of color," she asks, as she proceeds to display the boundaries others place upon their freedom to create their own realities and establish their distinctive voices. Whereas other women theorists of postcolonialism and feminism have challenged Western-conventions largely within the linguistic and stylistic conventions of …

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[Review Of] Asian United Women Of California, Ed. Making Waves: An Anthology Of Writings By And About Asian American Women, Ann Rayson Jan 1991

[Review Of] Asian United Women Of California, Ed. Making Waves: An Anthology Of Writings By And About Asian American Women, Ann Rayson

Explorations in Sights and Sounds

Making Waves is an impressive collection of writings that includes poetry, fiction, and autobiography and historical, sociological, and political essays about American women who came from China, Japan, Korea, the Philippines, India, Pakistan, Vietnam, Cambodia, Burma, and Thailand. This is quite a feat. While non-Asians tend to stereotype Asians and lump them together, their cultures, traditions, and histories are diverse. Making Waves includes stories of Vietnamese boat refugees, Japanese picture brides, World War II camp detainees, Chinese prostitutes and grandmothers with bound feet, Filipinas looking to escape poverty by marrying American men through the Cherry Blossom network, and the list …

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[Review Of] Richard D. Alba, Ed. Ethnicity And Race In The U.S.A. Toward The Twenty-First Century, Cortland P. Auser Jan 1991

[Review Of] Richard D. Alba, Ed. Ethnicity And Race In The U.S.A. Toward The Twenty-First Century, Cortland P. Auser

Explorations in Sights and Sounds

Ethnicity and Race in the U.S.A. is a timely collection of essays (earlier published as articles in Ethnic and Racial Studies). Much of the material will interest those involved in studying trends in multiculturalism in the United States. The author's background sections and conclusions are especially significant, backed by clear statistical data in many instances. The collection is well balanced. Alba directs our attention to the main events in ethnic developments since 1950, all of which contribute to a broad view of various "trajectories toward the new century" in matters of race and ethnicity. The spectrum of subjects is commendably …

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[Review Of] Doris Jean Austin. After The Garden, Linda Wells Jan 1991

[Review Of] Doris Jean Austin. After The Garden, Linda Wells

Explorations in Sights and Sounds

Doris Jean Austin's novel After the Garden unites the tragic themes of patricide and familial fury with the contemporary themes of class struggle within the black community of post-World War II America. At the center of this family saga is Elzina Tompkins, a beautiful young black woman who comes of age in the 1940s urban North. Her grandmother, Rosalie Tompkins, is a powerfully drawn figure whom Austin uses as one side of the equation to show the values of a black woman of some means, a woman who seeks to keep her granddaughter "in the garden." The wayward Jesse James, …

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[Review Of] Silvester J. Brito. The Way Of A Peyote Roadman, D. C. Cole Jan 1991

[Review Of] Silvester J. Brito. The Way Of A Peyote Roadman, D. C. Cole

Explorations in Sights and Sounds

The Way of a Peyote Roadman is a work which is certain to stir controversy in a number of academic circles. Silvester J. Brito holds a Ph.D. in folklore and anthropology from Indiana University. The book begins with a personal affirmation of the author's belief in the power of sorcery, based on his personal experiences culminating in a peyote ritual curing ceremony.

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[Review Of] Therese Daniels And Jane Gerson, Eds. The Colour Black: Black Images In British Television, Angela M. S. Nelson Jan 1991

[Review Of] Therese Daniels And Jane Gerson, Eds. The Colour Black: Black Images In British Television, Angela M. S. Nelson

Explorations in Sights and Sounds

The Colour Black is a concise reference source for scholars interested in research about ethnic images portrayed in television programs produced in other countries. This volume is largely a collection of television review articles for three prime-time television formats in Great Britain: (1) situation comedies, (2) drama series and serials, and (3) soap operas.

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[Review Of] Darlene Clark Hine. Black Women In White,, Celia J. Wintz Jan 1991

[Review Of] Darlene Clark Hine. Black Women In White,, Celia J. Wintz

Explorations in Sights and Sounds

In recent years nursing history has taken on a new focus. The nursing histories of the first half of the twentieth century chronicled the steady growth and development of the profession and glorified the white nursing leaders who promoted the scientific basis and professionalization of nursing. These early histories, however, ignored or glossed over the many problems of the emerging profession: poorly educated nursing students, nursing school curriculums which were controlled by service administrators rather than educators, the substandard working and living conditions of both student nurses and graduate nurses, the subservience of nurses to physicians which did not serve …

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[Review Of] Joseph E. Holloway, Ed. Africanisms In American Culture, Harriet Ottenheimer Jan 1991

[Review Of] Joseph E. Holloway, Ed. Africanisms In American Culture, Harriet Ottenheimer

Explorations in Sights and Sounds

Part of the Indiana University series on Blacks in the Diaspora, this book brings together ten essays on the impact of African roots on African American cultural patterns. Two of the essays are general in nature, the other eight focus on specific cultural domains such as religion, music, folklore, and art.

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[Review Of] Shirley Goek-Lin Lim, Mayumi Tsutakawa And Margarita Donnelly, Eds. The Forbidden Stitch: An Asian American Women's Anthology, Cortland P. Auser Jan 1991

[Review Of] Shirley Goek-Lin Lim, Mayumi Tsutakawa And Margarita Donnelly, Eds. The Forbidden Stitch: An Asian American Women's Anthology, Cortland P. Auser

Explorations in Sights and Sounds

The Forbidden Stitch appears to be one of the better anthologies of the work of Asian American women writers. The editors have worked assiduously to make it comprehensive. It is an exceptionally fine selection of prose, poetry, essays, and reviews. In an introduction it is stressed that the collection underlines the differences among the writers, correcting the error of too many critics who homogenize the term "Asian American women." The writers lack a common history. "The thread they form is 'multi-colored' and 'many layered.''' "The voices are plural."

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[Review Of] Americo Paredes. George Washington Gomez, Carl R. Shirley Jan 1991

[Review Of] Americo Paredes. George Washington Gomez, Carl R. Shirley

Explorations in Sights and Sounds

Américo Paredes is a figure quite familiar to anyone who has delved even lightly and briefly into Chicano literature, history, and culture. His long and distinguished career as a teacher at the University of Texas and his excellent scholarly publications have insured that his name is among the first encountered as one begins to examine the writings of Mexican Americans. "With His Pistol in His Hand": A Border Ballad and Its Hero (1958) is a landmark study, and his collections, A Texas-Mexican Cancionero: Folksongs of the Lower Border (1976) and Folktales of Mexico (1979) are significant contributions to the corpus …

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[Review Of] David Pilgrim. Race Relations "Above The Veil": Speeches, Essays, And Other Writings, Angelo Costanzo Jan 1991

[Review Of] David Pilgrim. Race Relations "Above The Veil": Speeches, Essays, And Other Writings, Angelo Costanzo

Explorations in Sights and Sounds

This is mostly a collection of speeches delivered to high school and college students by Pilgrim, who teaches sociology at Saint Mary's College/Notre Dame. A few of the talks were given to community and business groups in several Midwestern states, and thus each selection reflects the appropriate style and content level of the audience being addressed. The content of all the pieces, including the few essays and short stories, focuses on racial prejudice, but also deals with general biases pertaining to gender, ethnic group, and class.

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[Review Of] Felicisima C. Serafica, Andrew I. Schwebel, Richard K. Russell, Paul D. Isaac, And Linda B. Myers, Eds. Mental Health Of Ethnic Minorities, Jesse M. Vazquez Jan 1991

[Review Of] Felicisima C. Serafica, Andrew I. Schwebel, Richard K. Russell, Paul D. Isaac, And Linda B. Myers, Eds. Mental Health Of Ethnic Minorities, Jesse M. Vazquez

Explorations in Sights and Sounds

This edited collection is based on papers presented at a conference held at Ohio State University (1986), entitled Minority Mental Health: A Multicultural Knowledge Base for Psychological Providers. The chapters included in the book are expanded versions of the themes covered in the conference. This excellent book is a welcome entry into the ever-expanding field of psychology known variously as minority mental health, cross-cultural counseling, and multicultural counseling and psychotherapy. It is a field that has grown considerably in the last two decades, as counselors, psychologists, social workers, psychiatrists, and other mental health providers and researchers have attempted to understand …

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[Review Of] Edward H. Spicer. People Of Pascua, Gretchen Harvey Jan 1991

[Review Of] Edward H. Spicer. People Of Pascua, Gretchen Harvey

Explorations in Sights and Sounds

On the surface, People of Pascua appears to be a focused anthropological field study limited to a narrow period of time. It should not surprise those who are familiar with Edward Spicer's preeminent scholarship on acculturation, however, that things are not always what they seem to be. It is true that this study concerning the Yaquis, begun in 1941, stems from Spicer's first field experience as a graduate student. Yet, People of Pascua has broader implications that go beyond the lives of the Yaquis who made Pascua Village, Arizona, their home. Spicer's methodology included biography as a means to better …

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[Review Of] Dorothy Sterling. Black Foremothers: Three Lives, Allene Jones Jan 1991

[Review Of] Dorothy Sterling. Black Foremothers: Three Lives, Allene Jones

Explorations in Sights and Sounds

Black Foremothers is a much needed book written about the lives of three important black women: Ellen Craft, Ida B. Wells and Mary Church Terrell. The author, Dorothy Sterling, is to be commended for her ability to piece together the lives of these women and present them in such an interesting manner. In the foreword, Margaret Walker states that the author is highly qualified to write biographies of black women because of her intense study of American black people for at least twenty-five years.

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