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Why Are All the Black Kids Sitting Together in the Cafeteria: And Other Conversations About Race Paperback – January 17, 2003
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Walk into any racially mixed high school and you will see Black, White, and Latino youth clustered in their own groups. Is this self-segregation a problem to address or a coping strategy? Beverly Daniel Tatum, a renowned authority on the psychology of racism, argues that straight talk about our racial identities is essential if we are serious about enabling communication across racial and ethnic divides. These topics have only become more urgent as the national conversation about race is increasingly acrimonious. This fully revised edition is essential reading for anyone seeking to understand the dynamics of race in America.
- Print length294 pages
- LanguageEnglish
- PublisherBasic Books
- Publication dateJanuary 17, 2003
- Dimensions5.5 x 1 x 8 inches
- ISBN-109780465083619
- ISBN-13978-0465083619
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Editorial Reviews
Review
-Jodi Picoult, #1 New York Times bestselling author of Small Great Things
"In the face of setbacks economically, socially, and racially, Beverly Daniel Tatum's work is ever relevant. Spanning so very much history in recent decades and engagingly written, this book remains the go-to volume on identity groups and social exclusion, especially among college-aged people."
-Roger Brooks, President and CEO, Facing History and Ourselves
"We read the original version of this book 20 years ago and learned a great deal about race, racism, and human behavior. This updated version provides even more insights about the racial, ethnic, and cultural challenges we face in American society, and particularly in higher education. What makes these insights so valuable is the author's ability to look at our problems from different perspectives and to challenge us to look in the mirror as we think about who we are and whom we serve. She gives excellent examples of leaders who succeeded during times of crisis, and of others who struggled. Any American leader wanting a deeper understanding of these issues should read this book."
-Freeman A. Hrabowski III, President, University of Maryland, Baltimore County
"Beverly Tatum answers the question posed in the title of her book in a brilliant synthesis informed by history, developmental psychology and great wisdom. Stereotypes, omissions and distortions-each rooted in our nation's history of slavery-cause each of us to breathe the "smog of racism." It is little wonder that Black adolescents rely on one another for social support as they navigate identity development. In the 20 years since Tatum first published her classic book, Black people have been disproportionately affected by the economic crisis of 2008, mass incarceration and a backlash against affirmative action. In this revision, Tatum finds a way to remain hopeful as today's youth lead movements exposing racial hierarchies, race and class privilege and seemingly invisible systems of oppression. This book should be required reading for every American."
-Kathleen McCartney, President, Smith College
"Why Are All the Black Kids Sitting Together in the Cafeteria? was a landmark publication when it appeared in 1997. Twenty years later this updated edition is as fresh, poignant and timely as ever. Bias, explicit and implicit, limit options, produce deadly encounters, and gnaw away at the fabric of our social contract. Racism, prejudice, and discrimination remain active characteristics of life in our society, notwithstanding the prominence of African Americans, Latinos/as, Asian Americans, and Native peoples in the media, entertainment, sports, politics, and many domains of business. Beverly Tatum reminds us that against this backdrop individuals sometimes seek out others like themselves because it secures their sense of self in a world that often makes them feel insecure. As a result, group congregation becomes a means of flipping the power dynamics and affirming oneself in a social context. If you somehow missed this book in its original form, I recommend this revised edition to you. It remains a must read."
-Earl Lewis, President, the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation
"Set today against the backdrop of a highly divisive and still persistently racialized societal landscape, this newly revised and updated publication is still a must-read classic. Tatum unpacks with moving narratives, the psychology that drives us all, as we grow up in largely homogenous communities, schooled in the nuances of difference that define too starkly our racial identities, even as we strive to learn how to embrace rather than distance from the many others that define our world. Just as this experienced psychologist and wise educational leader reminds us here that we cannot talk meaningfully about racial identity without talking about racism, so too must we learn from her words about how to talk and teach and dialogue across those boundaries, in the hopes of better realizing the potential of our diverse democracy."
-Nancy Cantor, Chancellor, Rutgers University-Newark
"In 1997, Why Are All the Black Kids Sitting Together in the Cafeteria? changed the conversation about race and racism in our nation. Twenty years later, this new edition is sure to do the same, this time with thoroughly updated information about the growing ethnic, racial, cultural, and religious diversity that now characterizes the United States, as well as important insights about persistent barriers to authentic integration and shrinking opportunities for many segments of the population. Given the current sociopolitical context in which we find ourselves, a context too often defined by exclusion and the stubborn persistence of bigotry and racism, this new edition couldn't have come soon enough!"
-Sonia Nieto, Professor Emerita, University of Massachusetts, Amherst
About the Author
Product details
- ASIN : 0465083617
- Publisher : Basic Books; 5th Anniv., Revised edition (January 17, 2003)
- Language : English
- Paperback : 294 pages
- ISBN-10 : 9780465083619
- ISBN-13 : 978-0465083619
- Item Weight : 8.9 ounces
- Dimensions : 5.5 x 1 x 8 inches
- Best Sellers Rank: #493,659 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #1,767 in Cultural Anthropology (Books)
- #1,878 in Discrimination & Racism
- #2,045 in African American Demographic Studies (Books)
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And, paradoxically, it turns out that everyone of all races are more like each other than not, even specifically about ethnic identity, even when it's different. That's why this book should receive continued and expanded reading. As people may embrace identity politics and their own ethnic identity, they mistakenly think they are being unique, which Tatum explains, they are not. Tatum explains the varied scales of ethnic identity that humans go through in stages by human and social nature.
Tatum shows that in all races, some of us embrace ethnic identity a lot, or more so, while others don't at all, or less so. And the cycles are similar, for all races, around the world, depending on social situations, like depending upon which ethnicity is in a large majority in a given situation. For example, Ms. Tatum, while black herself, identifies blacks who care not at all about embracing a black identity. That is like my family, which was all ethnic German, but didn't care at all about our ethnic identity, like cooking German food, or having clothing from the old country. I still feel that way, while my wife, who is African American, continues to stress her ethnic identity, embracing African history, African-American cooking, and art and items from the old country. We were both born in the U.S., in similar working-class backgrounds.
Ms. Tatum is refreshingly frank, for, example, as she describes herself in her college youth as being so enthusiastically into her own race, that she can't even remember one person's name, outside of her race, from her first four years of college. But she points out, that many others of her own race don't feel that way at all, and don't stress an ethnic identity as being important to them. Some people use ethnic pride for self-confidence, while others do not, or in varying degrees, and it all depends on social situations as well.
This is based on some serious research, not just anecdotes, and it covers every different situation that the multitude of us in all these ethnic backgrounds in the United States are in, as we all have an ethnicity. This book explains results, covering all ethnic groups, all social situations, and the lifetime patterns people take around the world in their identities.
This book helps explain why by human nature how we often think of ourselves, and others, in the ways that we do, as we go through life in various stages. Might I suggest that Ms. Tatum, or others, look further into how or if ethnic identity stages are affected by class status, from the lower working class up to the wealthy. That's a lot of variables, but Ms. Tatum shows that a lot of variables can be indeed be covered.
The main strength of the book, to me, is in fact the redefinition of racism. You don't have to agree with it, but you do now need to examine whether a "system of advantage" exists and if it does, whether it should be included in the definition of racism. I am neither white nor black, so I cannot speak of black/white issues in first-person. But I come from a family with four generations of academics. The system of school, academia, and education benefits me greatly, and I suit the system particularly through my upbringing. By analogy, I am open to the idea that past explicit systems of racial inequality do not lose its effect in a mere generation or two, especially for the black race. (Sorry to be imprudent, but Comedian Louis C.K. had this great line about, "White people want to add 100 years to every year it has been since slavery.") On the flip side, I came from a country and culture with western colonization in recent history (<200 years), foreign invasion and practical enslavement (<100 years), but not being a "minority" in my own country, people re-bound. Through my reading, I am questioning and examining my own assumptions as well as that of the author's. To that extent, I think the book is doing its most important job -- make you think.
The weakest point of the book is also in relation to the definition. The author included both internal belief and external system of advantage into her definition of racism, but only spent significant time exploring the system, but not belief. The author talks much about how the environment shapes the individual, but not how the beliefs of an individual (particularly, a black person) can alter the environment and his/her own fate. It places the black individual in a powerless position, except through the path of activism in racial issues (versus other achievements). The book largely ignores the reverse stereotypes that many whites feel from the blacks. The book simply does not name it, or implies that it doesn't count as "racism" because there is no "systematic advantage". Whatever the name, minority stereotype of the majority exists, and it should/can be addressed. I am a racial minority, and I hold such stereotypes.
The integration of identity theory with the racial issue is a valiant attempt. Sure it's not perfect, but it is a working hypothesis and I applaud the author's ability to present it in a way that is understandable and arguable.
The weakness of the identity theory presented is the overemphasis that we develop positive self identity only (or at least, first) by "sitting together" with our own kind. By that suggestion, must whites first sit whites during teen years, and rich with rich, poor with poor, woman with woman, man with man, athletes with athletes, nerds with nerds? Sure, that IS a big part of identity forming. The cost of "sitting with your own kind" is that your development gets stuck in a rut. You have few exposures to fresh ideas, ideas that would conflict with each of our narrow and individual views (and thus stimulate you to oppose, assimulate, or digest). Cognitive theories of child development places much emphasis on "cognitive conflict" in conceptual development. Though the author do advocate cross-racial dialogue, it struck me that the author overtly favors within-racial identity development, particularly for the black youth. Perhaps the argument is that blacks are "conflicted" enough by a white society, so they need not seek more. Are the black youth in America so oppressed so as not to be able to reap much benefit from other groups in identity formation? I don't know. I do question the argument "same kind first, and then cross lines" ... My gut feeling is that both should proceed more or less simultaneously.
Each of us, as readers, have our own ongoing identity development in relation to the question of race. The author, through this book, is beginning a cross-racial talk. Her clarity and honesty in the positions she had taken confront our minds, as if a "different" person is suddenly sitting at our lunch table". To that extent, I greatly appreciate the book, even while disagreeing with some ideas, agreeing with some ideas, and still digesting others.












