Stigma and culture : last-place anxiety in Black America /

This very ambitious study will intrigue readers with a high degree of intellectual curiosity. Covering the hierarchical social realities of internal conflict between communities of color, the book is interdisciplinary with a strong anthropological theoretical base. Employing an array of scholars such as Frantz Fanon, Erving Goffman, Pierre Bourdieu, and others, Matory (anthropology, Duke) complements this theoretical base with auto-ethnographic insights as an experienced academic. The author addresses topics that will provide much debate in graduate classes across the social sciences and humanities. Arguably, the essence of this study lies in the author's insight into the complexity of racialized groupings among people of color who have African ancestry. Moreover, what comes out of this analysis are the various "stereotypes and distancing" within these cultural groups. For example, there is a delicate relationship between Africans from the continent and those African Americans who are "indigenous" after many generations, emanating from enslavement, segregation, and second-class citizenship. The varied migrant cultural groups that have recently come from the Caribbean make up complex populations of clearly African-descended peoples. A powerful book. Summing Up: Highly recommended. Graduate students and up. --Mark Christian, Lehman College