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, DC. Drawing on ethnographic research, Jennifer B. Delfino illustrates how students’ linguistic practices are often perceived as barriers to learning and achievement and provides an in-depth look at how students challenge this perception by using language to transform the meaning of race in relation to ideas about academic success. In providing insight into the institutionalized processes by which African American children are seen and heard as “problem students,” this book helps scholars and practitioners better support marginalized pupils in their efforts to achieve racial transformation and educational justice in schools.