What communicative experiences are particular to African Americans? How do many African Americans define themselves culturally? How do they perceive... intracultural and intercultural communication? These questions are answered in this second edition of African American Communication: Exploring Identity and Culture. Informing multiple audiences interested in African American culture, from cultural researchers and practitioners to educators, policymakers, and community leaders, this innovative and invaluable resource examines the richness and depth of African American communication norms and patterns, as well as African American identities. Positive and healthy African American identities are centrally positioned throughout the book. Applying the cultural contracts theory and the communication theory of identity, authors Michael L. Hecht, Ronald L. Jackson II, and Sidney A. Ribeau explore relationships among African Americans, as well as between African Americans and European Americans, while highlighting the need for sensitivity to issues of power when discussing race, ethnicity, and culture. This wide-ranging volume provides an extensive review of the relevant literature and offers recommendations designed to encourage understanding of African American communication in a context extending beyond Eurocentric paradigms. Considering African American identity with a communicative, linguistic, and relational focus, this volume: *Defines African American identities by describing related terms, such as self, self-concept, personhood and identity; *Explores Afrocentricity and African American discourse; *Examines the status of African Americans in the United States using census statistics and national studies from other research agencies; *Considers identity negotiation and competence; and *Features a full chapter on African American relationships, including gendered, familial, intimate, adolescent and adult, homosexual, friendship, communal, and workplace relationships. African American Communication: Exploring Identity and Culture begins an important dialogue in the communication discipline, intercultural studies, African American studies and other fields concerned with the centrality of culture and communication as it relates to human behavior. It is intended for advanced students and scholars in intercultural communication, interpersonal communication, communication theory, African American/Black studies, social psychology, sociolinguistics, education, and family studies.

This is a monograph that proposes a new interpretation of community development uniting the African American community around the idea of racial... self-determination. No academic book has described the formal process of bringing community development into the African American community. The focus of this book is to bring a fresh perspective to Black and inner city communities that have suffered from lack of development and investment.

Africans brought as slaves to North America arrived without possessions, but not without culture. The fascinating elements of African life manifested... themselves richly in the New World, and among the most lasting and influential of these was the art of African dance. This generously illustrated history follows the dynamics of African dance forms throughout each generation. Early chapters discuss the African continent and the heritage of African American dance; the discrimination and marginalization of African Americans and the fortitude with which their dance forms survived; and black dance in the slavery era and later in the nineteenth century. Remaining chapters outline ten major characteristics that have consistently marked African American dance, and describe the various styles of black vernacular dance that became popular in America. The book concludes with a discussion of African dance at the end of the twentieth century and its important role in the flowering of African American arts.

This authoritative introduction to African American English (AAE) is the first textbook to look at the grammar as a whole. Clearly organized, it... describes patterns in the sentence structure, sound system, word formation and word use. It examines education, speech events in the secular and religious world, and the use of AAE in literature and the media to create black images. It includes exercises to accompany each chapter and is essential reading for students in linguistics, education, anthropology, African American studies and literature.

“Bravo to the authors! They have done an excellent job addressing the issues that are critical to community members, policy makers and... interventionists concerned with Black families in the context of our nation.”-Michael C. Lambert, University of Missouri, Colombia“African American Families is a timely work. The strength of this text lies in the depth of coverage, clarity, and the ability to combine secondary sources, statistics and qualitative data to reveal the plight of African Americans in society.”-Edward Opoku-Dapaah, Winston-Salem State University“African American Families is both engaging and challenging and is perhaps one of the most important works I have read in many years. This book will most certainly move the discourse of the socio-economic conditions of black families forward, beyond the boundaries already set by other books in the market. African American Families is an excellent book whose time has come, and one that I would most definitely adopt.” -Lateef O. Badru, University of LouisvilleAfrican American Families provides a systematic sociological study of contemporary life for families of African descent living in the United States. Analyzing both quantitative and qualitative data, authors Angela J. Hattery and Earl Smith identify the structural barriers that African Americans face in their attempts to raise their children and create loving, healthy, and raise the children of the next generation.Key Features:Uses the lens provided by the race, class, and gender paradigm: Examples illustrate the ways in which multiple systems of oppression interact with patterns of self-defeating behavior to create barriers that deny many African Americans access to the American dream.Addresses issues not fully or adequately addressed in previous books on Black families: These issues include personal responsibility and disproportionately high rates of incarceration, family violence, and chronic illnesses like HIV/AIDS. Brings statistical data to life: The authors weave personal stories based on interviews they’ve conducted into the usual data from scholarly(?) literature and from U.S. Census Bureau reports.Provides several illustrations from Hurricane Katrina: A contemporary analysis of a recent disaster demonstrates many of the issues presented in the book such as housing segregation and predatory lending practices.Offers extensive data tables in the appendices: Assembled in easy-to-read tables, students are given access to the latest national agencies data from agencies including the U.S. Census Bureau, Centers for Disease Control, and Bureau of Justice Statistics.Intended Audience:This is an ideal textbook for advanced undergraduate and graduate courses such as African American Families, Sociology of the Family, Contemporary Families, and Race and Ethnicity in the departments of Human Development and Family Studies, Sociology, African American Studies, and Black Studies.

This volume brings together leading experts from different disciplines to offer new perspectives on contemporary African American families. A wealth of... knowledge is presented on the heterogeneity of Black family life today; the challenges and opportunities facing parents, children, and communities; and the impact on health and development of key cultural and social processes. Comprehensive and authoritative, the book critically evaluates current policies and service delivery models and offers cogent recommendations for supporting families' strengths.

From Booklist: There are several chronologies that survey African American contributions in general, and several others that document worldwide... achievements in science and technology, but this one concentrates on African American pioneers in endeavors ranging from clock making to particle physics. The volume has approximately 1,200 entries, organized under eight broad topics such as "Agriculture and Everyday Life," "Life Sciences," and "Medicine." Within each section, events are listed in chronological order. The earliest event is from 1706, when a slave named Onesimus educated his owner, Cotton Mather, about the concept of inoculation against smallpox. The latest events are from 1999. The longest chapter is the one on medicine, which covers more than 150 pages. In some cases, first is defined as the first African American to achieve a milestone, graduate from a particular institution, or receive a particular honor or appointment. An outstanding example is Shirley Ann Jackson, the first African American woman to earn a Ph.D. in physics and the first African American woman to earn a Ph.D. at MIT, the first African American and the first woman to be appointed to the position of Chair of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, and the first African American woman to head a leading technology university in the U.S. In other cases, what is recorded is the first accomplishment in a field by any person of any background. Entries are generally quite brief, ranging from 50 to around 100 words. They provide information about individuals' education and careers as well as about the "firsts." Each cites sources, among which are periodicals such as Ebony, Jet, and the New York Times, professional journals, the Index of Patents, and various Gale publications, including The African-American Almanac and Who's Who Among Black Americans. Photographs accompany 108 of the entries. The volume concludes with a bibliography, an index by year, an occupation index, and a general index.

From the canefileds of the ante-bellum South, the villages of the Caribbean islands, and the streets of contemporary inner cities, here are more than... one hundred tales from an "incredibly rich and affirmative storytelling tradition" (Choice).Full of life, wisdom, and humor, these tales range from the earthy comedy of tricksters to stories explaining how the world was created and got to be the way it is, to moral fables that tell of encounters between masters and slaves. They includes stories set down in travelers' reports and plantation journals from the early nineteenth century, tales gathered by collectors such as Joel Chandler Harris and Zora Neale Hurston, and narratives tape-recorded by Roger Abrahams himself during extensive expeditions throughout the American South and the Caribbean.

Ranging from seventeenth-century West African fare to contemporary fusion dishes using soul food ingredients, the essays in this book provide an... introduction to many aspects of African American foodways and an antidote to popular misconceptions about soul food. Examining the combination of African, Caribbean, and South American traditions, the volume's contributors offer lively insights from history, literature, sociology, anthropology, and African American studies to demonstrate how food's material and symbolic values have contributed to African Americans' identity for centuries. Individual chapters examine how African foodways survived the passage into slavery, cultural meanings associated with African American foodways, and the contents of African American cookbooks, both early and recent.Contributors are Anne L. Bower, Robert L. Hall, William C. Whit, Psyche Williams-Forson, Doris Witt, Anne Yentsch, Rafia Zafar.

Eight years of inspired work by a committee of more than 30 musicians and pastors, all leaders in African American worship and gospel music, have... resulted in this compendium representing the common repertoire of African American churches across the United States. For the first time in an African American hymnal, traditional hymns and songs are notated to reflect performance practices found in the oral tradition of the black church in America. At a time when such traditions are falling victim to modern technology, this book strives to preserve this rich heritage for future generations. Presented are litanies for “Fifty-Two Sundays of Worshipful Celebration” outlining an African American church year, including such special days as Martin Luther King Sunday, Elders’ Day, Mother’s Day, and Men’s Day. Also included are 52 responsive scripture readings from the Old and New Testaments and an extensive index that includes scriptural and thematic cross-references.

One of the principal challenges for historians involves the interpretation and study of historical events and individuals through the prism of their... current reality. African American History: From Colonization to Pan Africanism is a collection of articles that discuss the movements of colonization, abolitionism, and Pan-Africanism from a historiographical perspective of three twentieth century movements: Jim Crow, the civil rights movement, and the post civil rights era. This anthology shows readers how historians discussed these movements over time and illustrates how the perceptions of an event change, given the experiences of the author and the world in which he or she lives.Organized into three major sections, the articles include a variety of insightful primary documents and are arranged in chronological order according to their original publication date:- Part 1 - Colonization- Part 2 - Abolitionism- Part 3 - Pan-AfricanismRonald E. Goodwin completed his undergraduate degree from Texas Lutheran University in Seguin, Texas, while serving on active duty in the US Air Force. After his honorable discharge from the military, he completed graduate degrees in Urban Transportation Planning and Management (MS) and US History (MA) and is a PhD candidate. His current research interests include urban history, the impacts of planning decisions on neighborhood development, and the historical development of Texas' black community as seen through the Texas Slave Narratives.

This groundbreaking volume establishes new perspectives on black history - its scholarship and pedagogy, scholars and interpreters, and evolution as a... profession. Pero Gaglo Dagbovie discusses a wide range of issues and themes for understanding and analyzing African American history, the twentieth century black historical enterprise, and the teaching of African American history for the twenty-first century. Additional topics include the hip-hop generation's relationship to and interpretations of African American history; past, present, and future approaches to the subject; and, the social construct of knowledge in African American historiography. An exclamation of definitions of black history from W. E. B. Du Bois' "The Souls of Black Folk" and a survey of early black women historians lend further dimension and authenticity to the volume. A bold contribution to the growing fields of African American historiography and the philosophy of black history, "African American History Reconsidered" offers numerous analytical frameworks for understanding and delving into a variety of dimensions of the African American historical experience.