[URBANTH-L]Session Proposal on Ogbu

[Angela Jancius]

Dear colleagues:

I am inviting submission of proposals for the session below:

Committee # 1: Anthropological Studies of Schools and Culture

Ogbu and Beyond: The New Contemporary Realities of  Urban Minorities and the
Construction of Violent Communities of Color.

Description
Ogbu's (1978, 1986, 1992) theory of minority achievement (voluntary and
involuntary minorities) strongly focuses on American caste-like system and
racism.  Ogbu's theory ignores the growing self-destruction of minority
communities in the form of racial clashes caused by the rampant effects of
global capitalism.  Ogbu's implication that schools are neutral, that
African American kids and other "involuntary minorities" walk into schools
with an anti-intellectual predisposition (culture of disengagement) has
prevented a deeper examination of the construction of academic failure
orchestrated by late capitalist societies.  This panel will address some of
the shortcomings of Ogbu's theory to explain the increased racialized
violence within urban communities.  Papers addressing issues of racial
conflicts in schools, the construction of violence in inner city schools,
the role of the media in the distorted images of communities of color, and
particularly, studies deconstructing and challenging Ogbu's theory are
welcome.

Session Organizer:           Marta Baltodano
Phone #                           (310) 338-3770
Email                               mbaltoda at lmu.edu