African American Males in Education: Researching the Convergence of Race and Identity addresses a number of research gaps. This book emerges at a time when new social dynamics of race and other identities are shaping, but also shaped by, education. Educational settings consistently perpetuate racial and other forms of privilege among students, personnel, and other participants in education. For instance, differential access to social networks still visibly cluster by race, continuing the work of systemic privilege by promoting outcome inequalities in education and society. The issues defining the relationship between African American males and education remain complex. Although there has been substantial discussion about the plight of African American male participants and personnel in education, only modest attempts have been made to center analysis of identity and identity intersections in the discourse. Additionally, more attention to African American male teachers and faculty is needed in light of their unique cultural experiences in educational settings and expectations to mentor and/or socialize other African Americans, particularly males.

Plutarch, the famed Greek biographer, wrote The Lives of the Roman Emperors early in his career. Simone Drake could have called her book The Lives of Black Men. She contrasts the portrayal of black men in mainstream media with the way she insists black men must imagine their lives, ambitions, and desires in both the civic arena and the domestic arena. The narrow popular representation of black men as being in perennial crisis is one she rejects, opting instead to see them as active agents of their own destinies. Her book uncovers the ways in which black men in history, literature, film, political arenas, and popular culture have either challenged or been challenged by pathological constructions of black masculinity. Imagining Grace refers to Toni Morrison s Beloved, a black feminist framework Drake uses to see power in vulnerability and emotivenessfrom Tom Joyner s radio show to Richard Pryor s comedy to some of President Obama s social policy. Drake is synthesizing black feminist and black masculinity studies. Her black lives feature the African American cowboy, Nat Love, also Drake s own grandfather, who imagined grace through military service in the first colored military unit to fight in World War II (what emerges is a narrative of black pride and shame), and thence to movies, where Drake explores the theme of black fathers and daughters (framed by a court case involving The Cosby Show as intellectual property). The chapter that follows, on twisted criminalities, contrasts the valorization of black criminals (thugs) as heroes with the denigration of gay black men, where we encounter the limits of grace in American Gangster, Cornelius Edy s poetry, and the viral video of Antoine Dodson (discussing the attempted rape of his sister). In concluding with Berry Gordy and hi-hop (Jay-Z), Drake meditates on black entrepreneurship as a nationalist site of redemption. We are given in this book a way of seeing and knowing black malenesssophisticated in concept but bracingly vivid in the telling. "

Why is there so much talk of a "crisis" of masculinity? How have ideas of manhood been transformed by feminism? Does feminism hold the key to the development of more egalitarian forms of masculinity? Masculinity Studies and Feminist Theory addresses central questions about the analysis and construction of masculinity in contemporary society. The volume examines the ways male privilege and power are constituted and represented and explores the effect of such constructions on both men and women. With subjects ranging from Robert Bly ́s Iron John to Tom Hank ́s "niceness," this collection overturns old paradigms about identity, victimization, and dominant and alternative forms of masculinity to advance new dialogues between masculinity studies and feminist theory. Looking particularly at literature, film, and classroom practices, Masculinity Studies and Feminist Theory links the analysis of masculinities with feminism ́s ethical and political agenda for the future. Its authors share a conviction that such a link not only reveals the persistence, now more subtle and varied, of male entitlement but also promises to create an enriched and reinvigorated feminism for a new century. Why is there so much talk of a "crisis" of masculinity? How have ideas of manhood been transformed by feminism? Does feminism hold the key to the development of more egalitarian forms of masculinity? Masculinity Studies and Feminist Theory addresses central questions about the analysis and construction of masculinity in contemporary society. The volume examines the ways male privilege and power are constituted and represented and explores the effect of such constructions on both men and women. With subjects ranging from Robert Bly's Iron John to Tom Hank's "niceness," this collection overturns old paradigms about identity, victimization, and dominant and alternative forms of masculinity to advance new dialogues between masculinity studies and feminist theory. Looking particularly at literature, film, and classroom practices, Masculinity Studies and Feminist Theory links the analysis of masculinities with feminism's ethical and political agenda for the future. Its authors share a conviction that such a link not only reveals the persistence, now more subtle and varied, of male entitlement but also promises to create an enriched and reinvigorated feminism for a new century.

Drawing on personal insights and research-based knowledge, this important work facilitates understanding of the psychological struggles of young African American males and offers ameliorative strategies. Despite examples set by successful black men in all walks of life, the truth remains that a disproportionate number of black boys and young men underperform at school, suffer from PTSD, and, too often, find themselves on a pathway to jail. The two-volume The Psychology of Black Boys and Adolescents marks the first attempt to catalog the many psychological influences that can stack the deck against black male children—and to suggest interventions. Bringing together an expansive collection of new and classic research from a wide variety of disciplines, this set sheds light on the complex circumstances faced by young black men in the United States. Contributions by authors Kirkland Vaughans and Warren Spielberg contain insights from the groundbreaking "Brotherman" study, conducted over a ten-year period to report on the lives and psychological challenges of over a hundred African American boys and their families. Among the myriad issues studied in this set are the often-negative expectations of society, the influence of gangs, and the impact of racism and poverty. Of equal importance, the work explores culturally specific ways to engage families, youths, communities, and policymakers in the development of healthy, safe, educated boys who will become whole and successful adults.

At many universities, women’s studies programs have achieved department status, establishing tenure-track appointments, graduate programs, and consistent course enrollments. Yet, as Joan Wallach Scott notes in her introduction to this collection, in the wake of its institutional successes, women’s studies has begun to lose its critical purchase. Feminism, the driving political force behind women’s studies, is often regarded as an outmoded political position by many of today’s students, and activism is no longer central to women’s studies programs on many campuses. In Women’s Studies on the Edge, leading feminist scholars tackle the critical, political, and institutional challenges that women’s studies has faced since its widespread integration into university curricula. The contributors to Women’s Studies on the Edge embrace feminism not as a set of prescriptions but as a critical stance, one that seeks to interrogate and disrupt prevailing systems of gender. Refusing to perpetuate and protect orthodoxies, they ask tough questions about the impact of institutionalization on the once radical field of women’s studies; about the ongoing difficulties of articulating women’s studies with ethnic, queer, and race studies; and about the limits of liberal concepts of emancipation for understanding non-Western women. They also question the viability of continuing to ground women’s studies in identity politics authorized by personal experience. The multiple interpretations in Women’s Studies on the Edge sometimes overlap and sometimes stand in opposition to one another. The result is a collection that embodies the best aspects of critique: the intellectual and political stance that the contributors take to be feminism’s ethos and its aim. Contributors Wendy Brown Beverly Guy-Sheftall Evelynn M. Hammonds Saba Mahmood Biddy Martin Afsaneh Najmabadi Ellen Rooney Gayle Salamon Joan Wallach Scott Robyn Wiegman

Compiles information and interpretations on the past 500 years of African American history, containing essays on historical research aids, bibliographies, resources for womens' issues, and an accompanying CD-ROM providing bibliographical entries.

Considers tribalism, Islam, Christianity, nationalism, racism, communism, and educationalism in Africa in the 1950s.