African American Girls and the Construction of Identity: Class, Race, and Gender

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Description

In African American Girls and the Construction of Identity, Sheila Walker closely examines socioeconomic class and explores the way it shapes how African American girls experience race and gender in the process of their identity formation. While all the girls who participated in the two-year study are African American, their lives are racialized and gendered in significantly different ways, in both public and private spaces. Affluence is not a guaranteed protection against the identity-damaging effects of racism, and poverty is not necessarily a risk factor for an irresolute identity. By examining identity through the lens of class, Walker provides researchers, educators, and parents a more in-depth appreciation of what is a very complex, multi-layered phenomenon.

Reviews

If anyone is curious about the depth and scope of the sociocultural and psychological experiences and profiles of young African American women then this book should be kept close by for use as a reference and a resource. Beautifully crafted and logically constructed Sheila Walkers book will be a major source for understanding the influences of self, place, and identity of young ethnic women for years to come. With a wealth of interesting material and a clear and accommodating, yet sufficiently rigourous, framework, anyone who studies these pages will come out a richer person. The written voice is confident and authoritative. The text is clear, engaging, and inspiring. -- Joseph Trimble, Western Washington University

Author Bio

Sheila Walker is professor of psychology at Scripps College and chair of the Intercollegiate Department of Africana Studies at The Claremont Colleges.