Speaking of Race

In Speaking of Race, Jennifer B. Delfino draws on three years of teaching experience and ethnographic research to examine language and racial identity among African American children in a Washington, D.C.-based after school program. after school program. It is based on three years of the author’s teaching and ethnographic research.

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Speaking of Race explores the linguistic practices of African American children in an after school program in Washington, D.C. Using the ethnographic methods of “raciolinguistics,” it provides an in-depth look at how students used language to transform the meaning of race in relation to ideas about academic success. The book shows that while students often have a sophisticated grasp of language, race, and their relation to academic success, their linguistic practices are often perceived as barriers to learning and achievement. In providing insight into the institutionalized processes by which African American children are seen and heard as “problem students”, this book aims to help scholars and practitioners better support minoritized students who are engaged in the project of achieving racial transformation and educational justice in the context of their urban schooling experiences.