Black Masculinities and Schooling: How Black Boys Survive Modern Schooling

This is a book about sex and gender as much as race and racism. That these concepts are interrelated in the experience of African-Caribbean boys is demonstrated by this ethnographic study of an inner city boys' British "Comprehensive" school. The author reveals the positioning of these students by their teachers, peers and white students. The rules, values and teacher interactions at the school, along with the influence of the music/fashion culture on the street, have led some boys to reappropriate racist and sexist perceptions of black masculinity.The influence of these often conflicting pressures on a sample group of African-Caribbean boys is the focus of this book. Tony Sewell uses this focus to provide teachers and researchers with valuable new understandings of the complex, contextual and shifting sites called "school." He suggests a framework for more sophisticated notions of pluralism and for practical approaches to developing the school environment to support learning.