Description
Book SynopsisA poignant account of how the carceral state shapes daily life for young Black peopleand how Black Americans resist, find joy, and cultivate new visions for the future. At the Southern California Librarya community organization and an archive of radical and progressive movementsthe author meets a young man, Marley. In telling Marley's story, Damien M. Sojoyner depicts the overwhelming nature of Black precarity in the twenty-first century through the lenses of housing, education, health care, social services, and juvenile detention. But Black life is not defined by precarity; it embraces social visions of radical freedom that allow the pursuit of a life of joy beyond systems of oppression. Structured as a record collection of five albums, this innovative book relates Marley's personal encounters with everyday aspects of the carceral state through an ethnographic A side and offers deeper context through an anthropological and archival B side. In Joy and Pain, Marley's experiences
Trade Review"Lively discussions of Black musicians including Ice Cube and Kendrick Lamar pepper the narrative, as do deep dives into the tactics and strategies of advocacy groups such as the Black Panther Party and the California Housing and Action Network. Progressive activists will savor this in-depth portrait of the struggle for justice." * Publishers Weekly *
"A creative, intimate ethnography centering on Marley, a charismatic and smart teen but reluctant protagonist. . . . The result is a gripping, up-close portrait of how the carceral state in LA makes Black life so precarious. . . . This innovative, intimate book examines Marley’s joy and pain as he encounters a web of precarity created by housing, education, health care, and social services. Summing Up: Highly recommended." * CHOICE *
"A work of narrative storytelling, careful historical detail, and [an] homage to a community library that holds together many threads of hope within a system of destruction." * Journal of African American History *
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Joy and Pain is a book whose message, dynamic depictions, and political intervention will be appreciated for its clarity and conviction by anyone interested in unpacking the fictions that create and sustain social inequality and the multilayered truths that challenge it."
* Social Forces *
Table of ContentsContents
Acknowledgments
Introduction: Look at California
ALBUM 1: HIDDEN IN PLAIN SIGHT
A Side: A Place Called Home
B Side: Manufacturing a Problem
ALBUM 2: THE HEART OF REBELLION
A Side: A True Education
B Side: Watts to the Future
ALBUM 3: ALL THAT GLITTERS
A Side: Nonprofit Management
B Side: All Power to the People
ALBUM 4: CRUEL AND BEAUTIFUL
A Side: Shelter from Paradise
B Side: Socialist Visions
ALBUM 5: LIBERATORY VIBES
A Side: Freedom Ain’t Free
B Side: The Price of Freedom
Closing Note: Freedom on the Mind
Grounding Materials
Works Cited
Illustration Credits
Index
