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Shades of White: White Kids and Racial Identities in High School
Pamela Perry
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Description for Shades of White: White Kids and Racial Identities in High School
Paperback. What does it mean to be young, American, and white at the dawn of the twenty-first century? By exploring this question and revealing the everyday social processes by which high school students define white identities, this book offers insights into the social construction of race and whiteness among youth. Num Pages: 280 pages. BIC Classification: 1KBB; JFSL1; JFSP2; JHMP. Category: (P) Professional & Vocational. Dimension: 5741 x 3963 x 19. Weight in Grams: 422.
What does it mean to be young, American, and white at the dawn of the twenty-first century? By exploring this question and revealing the everyday social processes by which high schoolers define white identities, Pamela Perry offers much-needed insights into the social construction of race and whiteness among youth.
Through ethnographic research and in-depth interviews of students in two demographically distinct U.S. high schools—one suburban and predominantly white; the other urban, multiracial, and minority white—Perry shares students’ candor about race and self-identification. By examining the meanings students attached (or didn’t attach) to their social lives and everyday cultural practices, including their taste in music and clothes, she shows that the ways white students defined white identity were not only markedly different between the two schools but were considerably diverse and ambiguous within them as well. Challenging reductionist notions of whiteness and white racism, this study suggests how we might go “beyond whiteness” to new directions in antiracist activism and school reform.
Shades of White is emblematic of an emerging second wave of whiteness studies that focuses on the racial identity of whites. It will appeal to scholars and students of anthropology, sociology, and cultural studies, as well as to those involved with high school education and antiracist activities.
Through ethnographic research and in-depth interviews of students in two demographically distinct U.S. high schools—one suburban and predominantly white; the other urban, multiracial, and minority white—Perry shares students’ candor about race and self-identification. By examining the meanings students attached (or didn’t attach) to their social lives and everyday cultural practices, including their taste in music and clothes, she shows that the ways white students defined white identity were not only markedly different between the two schools but were considerably diverse and ambiguous within them as well. Challenging reductionist notions of whiteness and white racism, this study suggests how we might go “beyond whiteness” to new directions in antiracist activism and school reform.
Shades of White is emblematic of an emerging second wave of whiteness studies that focuses on the racial identity of whites. It will appeal to scholars and students of anthropology, sociology, and cultural studies, as well as to those involved with high school education and antiracist activities.
Product Details
Format
Paperback
Publication date
2002
Publisher
Duke University Press United States
Number of pages
280
Condition
New
Number of Pages
280
Place of Publication
North Carolina, United States
ISBN
9780822328926
SKU
V9780822328926
Shipping Time
Usually ships in 7 to 11 working days
Ref
99-1
About Pamela Perry
Pamela Perry is Assistant Professor of Community Studies at the University of California, Santa Cruz.
Reviews for Shades of White: White Kids and Racial Identities in High School
“Do whites have a culture? Pamela Perry shows us that not only do they have a culture, they have many. An engrossing study of teenage peer culture in an increasingly multiracial society, Shades of White is an enlightening romp through white youth identity—an important contribution to the burgeoning literature on whiteness.”—Dalton Conley, author of Honky “In an overwhelmingly white country being white used to be seen as just being part of the majority, just a normal American. But how will our children think about it in schools where they will increasingly confront more and more students of other racial and ethnic identities? This book offers a sensitive and fascinating exploration of that question from the state at the cusp of that demographic revolution, California. Perry frames vital issues of integration and equity that demand leadership from the nation’s educators not just for the sake of minority students, but to prepare whites to become a successful minority in a workable multiracial society.”—Gary Orfield, Harvard University “Perry’s book is part of a second wave of whiteness studies; she challenges ‘new racism’ theories with the encouraging idea that inconsistencies in white’s attitudes are not the subtle, modern face of racism, but ‘potential inlets for nurturing antiracism.’ Trying to broaden this ethnography’s appeal, the author has limited the jargon-heavy passages, making the book readable by those simply curious about what the kids have to say.”
Keir Graff
Booklist
“Perry’s research provided her with ideas for restructuring education to enhance cultural diversity and compatibility among students, emphasizing that, as this country becomes more racially diverse, we should try to strip away racial identity and think of Americans as one people. These ideas might seem out of reach, but they’re worth considering.”
Library Journal
“This ethnographic portrait of students enrolled in two very different northern California schools provides us with some insight into how they identify racially and establish cultural boundaries among themselves and across racial groups. . . . This comparative research design allowed Perry not only to observe how context influences racial identity, but also how white students from similar backgrounds maintained substantively different racial identities depending on whether they were a part of either the school's majority or minority. . . . I enjoyed reading Shades of White, and certainly, I cannot quibble with Perry’s conclusions.”
Prudence L. Carter
Contemporary Sociology
"A truly outstanding contribution to the existing race and ethnic relations literature. . . . I strongly recommend this very well written, accessible, and forward-thinking book for courses in race relations, multicultural and ethnic studies, and education. Perry's Shades of White makes an outstanding contribution to our understanding of the relational and situational nature of racial identity construction and the various social forces that continue to reshape the meaning we attach to race."
Charles A. Gallagher
Social Forces
"[A]n engaging, comparative ethnography of white identity in two northern California high schools. . . . Shades of White asks a series of big questions: How do white youth talk about race? Do they think of themselves as racial subjects? Is there a white culture? Is white identity fixed or singular? How might diversity, and daily interactions with cultural differences shape the kind and quality of responses given by white youth? With theoretical sophistication, Perry provides illuminating response to each of these queries."
C. Richard King
American Studies International
"[This] ethnography is extensive and the writing is often rich, complex, and vivid. . . . An important book."
Michael Moffatt
American Anthropologist
Keir Graff
Booklist
“Perry’s research provided her with ideas for restructuring education to enhance cultural diversity and compatibility among students, emphasizing that, as this country becomes more racially diverse, we should try to strip away racial identity and think of Americans as one people. These ideas might seem out of reach, but they’re worth considering.”
Library Journal
“This ethnographic portrait of students enrolled in two very different northern California schools provides us with some insight into how they identify racially and establish cultural boundaries among themselves and across racial groups. . . . This comparative research design allowed Perry not only to observe how context influences racial identity, but also how white students from similar backgrounds maintained substantively different racial identities depending on whether they were a part of either the school's majority or minority. . . . I enjoyed reading Shades of White, and certainly, I cannot quibble with Perry’s conclusions.”
Prudence L. Carter
Contemporary Sociology
"A truly outstanding contribution to the existing race and ethnic relations literature. . . . I strongly recommend this very well written, accessible, and forward-thinking book for courses in race relations, multicultural and ethnic studies, and education. Perry's Shades of White makes an outstanding contribution to our understanding of the relational and situational nature of racial identity construction and the various social forces that continue to reshape the meaning we attach to race."
Charles A. Gallagher
Social Forces
"[A]n engaging, comparative ethnography of white identity in two northern California high schools. . . . Shades of White asks a series of big questions: How do white youth talk about race? Do they think of themselves as racial subjects? Is there a white culture? Is white identity fixed or singular? How might diversity, and daily interactions with cultural differences shape the kind and quality of responses given by white youth? With theoretical sophistication, Perry provides illuminating response to each of these queries."
C. Richard King
American Studies International
"[This] ethnography is extensive and the writing is often rich, complex, and vivid. . . . An important book."
Michael Moffatt
American Anthropologist