Description
Book SynopsisElucidates the limitations of the explanation that Blacks underperform in school because they fear acting white. This work presents research that theorizes race as a social phenomenon, unmasks the heterogeneity of the Black experience, and contends with the specifics of social context in the culture and organization of schools and communities.
Trade ReviewThis volume makes an essential contribution to the study of racial inequality by systematically assessing the explanatory power of the "acting white" thesis. Alternative sites of racialization, gendered self concepts, and the black immigrant experience are only a few of the dimensions Lamont considers in analyzing this ill-conceived theory and proposing imaginative alternatives. -- Michelle Lamont, Professor of Sociology, Canadian Institute for Advanced Research
This fine work focuses on high-achieving black students, a group that is too often ignored or worse, treated as nonexistent. [Horvat and O'Connor] break new scholarly ground, living up to their claims of moving beyond typical treatments of the acting white hypothesis. -- Camille Z. Charles, University of Pennsylvania
Table of ContentsChapter 1 Foreword Chapter 2 Introduction: Framing the Field: Past and Future Research On the Historic Underachievement of Black Students 3 Bring it On! Diverse Responses to "Acting White" among Academically Able Black Adolescents 4 The Making of a "Burden": Tracing the Development of a "Burden of Acting White" in Schools 5 Shifting Images of Blackness: Coming of Age as Black Students in Urban and Suburban High Schools 6 Intersecting Identities: "Acting White," Gender, and Academic Achievement 7 To Be Young, Gifted, and Somewhat Foreign: The Role of Ethnicity in Black Student Achievement 8 Reconsidering "Material Conditions": How Neigborhood Context Can Shape Educational Outcomes across Racial Groups 9 Whiteness in School: How Race Shapes Black Students' Opportunities 10 Afterward
