Shades of White: White Kids and Racial Identities in High School

Pamela Perry

Published by Duke University Press 2002

Shades of White

White Kids and Racial Identities in High School

Pamela Perry

https://doi.org/10.1515/9780822383659

Overview
Contents

About this book

A comparative ethnography in two high schools, one urban and one suburban, that studies the differing notions of whiteness and race that predominate among students at each school.

Author / Editor information

Pamela Perry is Assistant Professor of Community Studies at the University of California, Santa Cruz.

Reviews

“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

Topics

Frontmatter Publicly Available Download PDF	i
Contents Publicly Available Download PDF	vii
Acknowledgments Publicly Available Download PDF	ix
Introduction Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	1
Part One School Life and Social Meanings
1 Valley Groves: ‘‘Normal. I’d say I’m just . . . normal.’’ Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	23
2 Clavey High: ‘‘There aren’t enough white kids here to have many skaters.’’ Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	44
Part Two Identity and Culture
3 Situated Meanings of ‘‘White’’ as a Cultural Identity Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	73
4 Doing Identity in Style Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	104
Part Three Identity and Group Position
5 The Million Man March Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	133
6 The Social Implications of White Identity Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	150
Conclusion: Beyond Whiteness Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	180
Appendix: Methods and Reflections Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	199
Notes Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	211
Bibliography Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	243
Index Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	257

Language: English
Publisher: Duke University Press
Pages
- Main content: 280

eBook

Published: February 14, 2002
ISBN: 9780822383659