The 20th Century has been marked by enormous change in terms of how we define race. In large part, we have thrown out the antiquated notions of the 1800s, giving way to a more realistic, sociocultural view of the world. The United States is, perhaps more than any other industrialized country, distinguished by the size and diversity of its racial and ethnic minority populations. Current trends promise that these features will endure. Fifty years from now, there will most likely be no single majority group in the United States. How will we fare as a nation when race-based issues such as immigration, job opportunities, and affirmative action are already so contentious today? In "America Becoming", leading scholars and commentators explore past and current trends among African Americans, Hispanics, Asian Americans, and Native Americans in the context of a white majority.This volume presents the most up-to-date findings and analysis on racial and social dynamics, with recommendations for ongoing research. It examines compelling issues in the field of race relations, including: race and ethnicity in criminal justice; demographic and social trends for Hispanics, Asian Americans, and Native Americans; trends in minority-owned businesses; wealth, welfare, and racial stratification; residential segregation and the meaning of "neighborhood"; disparities in educational test scores among races and ethnicities; health and development for minority children, adolescents, and adults; race and ethnicity in the labor market, including the role of minorities in America's military; immigration and the dynamics of race and ethnicity; the changing meaning of race; and, changing racial attitudes.This collection of papers, compiled and edited by distinguished leaders in the behavioral and social sciences, represents the most current literature in the field. Volume 1 covers demographic trends, immigration, racial attitudes, and the geography of opportunity. Volume 2 deals with the criminal justice system, the labor market, welfare, and health trends. Both books will be of great interest to educators, scholars, researchers, students, social scientists, and policymakers.
I am a medical anthropologist who has conducted original research in African American communities in the U.S. and Caribbean, as well as working on social and health policy issues throughout my professional career. These days, my research interests combine anthropology and my family's history.
My book, Hoodoo Medicine: Gullah Herbal Remedies, was the first to fully document and preserve the use of traditional medicines in the Sea Islands. In addition to Hoodoo Medicine, I co-edited several authoritative reports through the National Academies Press (National Academy of Sciences). These include: Examining the Health Disparities Research Plan of the National Institutes of Health: Unfinished Business; Multiple Origins, Uncertain Destinies: Hispanics and the American Future; Hispanics and the Future of America; Terrorism: Perspectives from the Behavioral and Social Sciences; Discouraging Terrorism: Some Implications of 9/11; America Becoming: Racial Trends and Their Consequences, vols. 1 and 2; Governance and Opportunity in Metropolitan America; Measuring Housing Discrimination in A National Study; and Premature Death in the New Independent States.
I have a doctorate in Medical Anthropology from the UC Berkeley-UC San Francisco joint program. My dissertation research, which sparked my interest in policy, was on health care (from "bush medicine" to the best doctors) in Jamaica.
