Talking at Trena's: Everyday Conversations at an African American Tavern

Reuben A. Buford May

Published by New York University Press 2001

Talking at Trena's

Everyday Conversations at an African American Tavern

Reuben A. Buford May

https://doi.org/10.18574/nyu/9780814739198.001.0001

Overview
Contents

About this book

Talking at Trena's is an ethnography conducted in a bar in an African American, middle-class neighborhood on Chicago's southside. May's work focuses on how the mostly black, working- and middle-class patrons of Trena's talk about race, work, class, women, relationships, the media, and life in general. May recognizes tavern talk as a form of social play and symbolic performace within the tavern, as well as an indication of the social problems African Americans confront on a daily basis.
Following a long tradition of research on informal gathering places, May's work reveals, though close description and analysis of ethnographic data, how African Americans come to understand the racial dynamics of American society which impact their jobs, entertainmentparticularly television programsand their social interactions with peers, employers, and others. Talking at Trena's provides a window into the laughs, complaints, experiences, and strategies which Trena's regulars share for managing daily life outside the safety and comfort of the tavern.

Author / Editor information

May Reuben A. Buford :

Reuben A. Buford May is Professor of Sociology at Texas A & M University. He is the author of Talking at Trena’s: Everyday Conversations at an African American Tavern (NYU Press, 2001).

Reviews

By turn sad, hilarious, shocking, and touching, these conversations are always revealing: May makes good use of them in suggesting what they tell us about how these men experience, for example, racism and class bias and ho they behave in various social contexts.

An engaging text. May shows why a space like Trena's is essential and why people become regulars.

Mitchell Duneier,author of Sidewalk and Slim's Table:
Like Du Bois, Drake and Cayton, Liebow, and Anderson before him, Reuben May has written a key text for understanding the segregated urban spaces of the U.S. Talking at Trena's is an intimate look at racial identity and racial conflict, hegemonic masculinity, homophobia, and the reception of television culture in black communities. It is an important extension of the urban ethnographic tradition that will be widely read for many years to come.

Gary Alan Fine,Professor of Sociology, Northwestern University:
As we come to know the participants of this African American tavern, we see the world from their perspective, making us a little more humane and wise in the process. Reuben May, with his quick ears and careful eyes, has performed a valuable service.

William Julius Wilson,Lewis P. and Linda L. Geyser University Professor, Harvard University:
A tour de force. Readers who begin this engaging and well-written book will find it hard to put down. May captures the subtle aspects of race in the everyday life of African Americans with original insights into informal social interactions in a segregated setting, and the implications of affirming racial identity in a multiracial society.

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
Chapter One. TRENA’S: A STUDY IN TAVERN CULTURE Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	8
Chapter Two. WORK AND THE TAVERN Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	32
Chapter Three. TELEVISION INTERACTION AND RACE Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	54
Chapter Four. TALKING ABOUT RACE Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	82
Chapter Five. MARRIAGE, WOMEN, AND THE TAVERN Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	107
Chapter Six. SEX TALK AND INNUENDO Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	140
Chapter Seven. THE PARADOX Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	163
APPENDIX Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	173
NOTES Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	179
BIBLIOGRAPHY Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	197
INDEX Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	205
ABOUT THE AUTHOR Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	209

Language: English
Publisher: New York University Press
Audience: Professional and scholarly;

eBook

Published: August 1, 2001
ISBN: 9780814739198