Chicana/o-Latina/o Youth and the Making of Identity: Intra-Ethnic Divisions, Youth Cultural Worlds, and the Anthropology of Getting Schooled (Routledge Research in Race and Ethnicity in Education)

Based on a three-year research study, this book presents a rich and immersive ethnographic exploration of the experiences of Chicana/o-Latina/o students and the Chicana/o-Latina/o scholastic youth culture in American middle schools. The author provides insights into the diverse heritage of contemporary American school life, exploring the politics of social identity categories, and taking a new look at how the youth community practice an adult organized world.Employing an intra-ethnic differentiation theoretical framework, it seeks to understand how students create and negotiate a variety of racial, class, ethnic, academic, and “social clique” identities in order to navigate both official and hidden curriculum demands of school.As such, it studies the ways in which Chicano/Latino students learn to divide and compare themselves in systems of rank, fit in with the different sub-groups at the school, and how this impacts their academic performance and sense of belonging. It will appeal to