The Kings of Mississippi

Erscheinungsjahr 2019
ISBN: 978-1-108-42406-6
Verlag: Cambridge University Press

Buch, Englisch, 266 Seiten, Format (B × H): 157 mm x 235 mm, Gewicht: 574 g

Reihe: Cambridge Studies in Stratification Economics: Economics and Social Identity

Kings of Mississippi examines how a twentieth-century black middle-class family navigated life in rural Mississippi. The book introduces seven generations of a farming family and provides an organic examination of how the family experienced life and economic challenges as one of few middle-class black families living and working alongside the many struggling black and white sharecroppers and farmers in Gallman, Mississippi. Family narratives and census data across time and a socio-ecological lens help assess how race, religion, education, and key employment options influenced economic and non-economic outcomes. Family voices explain how intangible beliefs fueled socioeconomic outcomes despite racial, gender, and economic stratification. The book also examines the effects of stratification changes across time, including: post-migration; inter- and intra-racial conflicts and compromises; and, strategic decisions and outcomes. The book provides an unexpected glimpse at how a family's ethos can foster upward mobility into the middle-class.

Autoren/Hrsg.

Barnes, Sandra L.

Blanford-Jones, Benita

Fachgebiete

• Sozialwissenschaften Soziologie | Soziale Arbeit Spezielle Soziologie Soziologie von Migranten und Minderheiten
• Sozialwissenschaften Soziologie | Soziale Arbeit Soziologie Allgemein
• Sozialwissenschaften Ethnologie | Volkskunde Volkskunde Minderheiten, Interkulturelle & Multikulturelle Fragen
• Sozialwissenschaften Ethnologie | Volkskunde Ethnologie Kultur- und Sozialethnologie: Allgemeines

Inhaltsverzeichnis

Introduction: a black family from Mississippi as a socio-ecological phenomenon; 1. 'My own land and a milk cow': race, space, class, and gender as embedded elements of a black southern terrain; 2. 'Bikes or lights': familial decisions in the context of inequality; 3. 'Getting to the school on time': formal education and beyond; 4. 'Jesus and the juke joint': blurred and bordered boundaries and boundary crossing; 5. 'Keeping God's favor': contemporary black families and systemic change; Conclusion: 'what would Big Mama do?' Activation and routinization of a black family's ethos.

Über Autor(innen)

Blanford-Jones, Benita
Benita Blanford-Jones develops and leads several urban youth empowerment and educational mentoring programs. She also holds a Bachelor's degree in Sociology and a Master's degree in Human Services Administration from Indiana University Northwest.

Barnes, Sandra L.
Sandra L. Barnes is a Sociology Professor in the Department of Human and Organizational Development at Vanderbilt University and the first female African American Assistant Vice Chancellor. She is the author of Empowering Black Youth of Promise (2016), Live Long and Prosper, and The Costs of Being Poor (2005).