Julia Hall - Böcker

As the economy constricts, it seems living with a chronic sense of fear and anxiety is the new normal for a growing number of urban females. Many females are susceptible to victimization by cumulative strands of violence in school, their communities, families and partnerships. Exposure to violence has been shown to contribute to physical and mental health problems, a propensity for substance abuse, transience and homelessness, and unsurprisingly, poor school attendance and performance. What does a girl do when there is no place to get away from this, and even school is a danger zone? Why have so many educators turned their attention away from the reality of violence against girls? Why is there a tendency to categorize such violence as just another example of the general concept of "bullying?" Critical educators who research the effects of current market logics on the schooling of marginalized youth have yet fully to focus on this issue. This volume puts the reality of violence in the lives of urban school girls back on the map, investigates answers to the above questions, and presents suggestions for change.

Every day, children living in low-income communities have no choice but to grow up in a climate where they experience multiple unending assaults to their sense of dignity. This volume applies theoretical and historical insights to think through the increasingly undignified realities of life in economically marginalized communities. It includes examples of curricular challenges that low-income students in the US confront today while attempting to learn. Curricular challenges are analyzed as material texts that emerge out of student lived experiences in the economically disposed neighborhoods in which schools are located, and the dynamics of the schools and classrooms themselves. Attention is also paid to educators and students who push back against these forces in an effort to reclaim voice, identity and dignity.

A poignant study of how a group of poor white urban youth find respite from poverty, violence, and racism in a local community center.This book considers how impoverished youth living in a deindustrialized urban neighborhood struggle to make sense of their lives in today's economy. Using participant observation and in-depth interviews with a group of eighteen white middle school girls and boys who walk each day from their multi-ethnic bilingual school to the historically white/Irish community center, the author discovered that the poor white youth are experiencing lives saturated with domestic violence and marked by a strong sense of racism. She also found that the youth position the community center as a space in which they feel a sense of safety, belonging, and importance. But upon closer examination, the community center can also be seen as a literal white "construction site," where the scaffolding that supports and sustains white supremacist ideology is produced and encouraged within children, within the neighborhood, across communities, and across generations.

A poignant study of how a group of poor white urban youth find respite from poverty, violence, and racism in a local community center.This book considers how impoverished youth living in a deindustrialized urban neighborhood struggle to make sense of their lives in today's economy. Using participant observation and in-depth interviews with a group of eighteen white middle school girls and boys who walk each day from their multi-ethnic bilingual school to the historically white/Irish community center, the author discovered that the poor white youth are experiencing lives saturated with domestic violence and marked by a strong sense of racism. She also found that the youth position the community center as a space in which they feel a sense of safety, belonging, and importance. But upon closer examination, the community center can also be seen as a literal white "construction site," where the scaffolding that supports and sustains white supremacist ideology is produced and encouraged within children, within the neighborhood, across communities, and across generations.

As the economy constricts, it seems living with a chronic sense of fear and anxiety is the new normal for a growing number of urban females. Many females are susceptible to victimization by cumulative strands of violence in school, their communities, families and partnerships. Exposure to violence has been shown to contribute to physical and mental health problems, a propensity for substance abuse, transience and homelessness, and unsurprisingly, poor school attendance and performance. What does a girl do when there is no place to get away from this, and even school is a danger zone? Why have so many educators turned their attention away from the reality of violence against girls? Why is there a tendency to categorize such violence as just another example of the general concept of "bullying?" Critical educators who research the effects of current market logics on the schooling of marginalized youth have yet fully to focus on this issue. This volume puts the reality of violence in the lives of urban school girls back on the map, investigates answers to the above questions, and presents suggestions for change.

Every day, children living in low-income communities have no choice but to grow up in a climate where they experience multiple unending assaults to their sense of dignity. This volume applies theoretical and historical insights to think through the increasingly undignified realities of life in economically marginalized communities. It includes examples of curricular challenges that low-income students in the US confront today while attempting to learn. Curricular challenges are analyzed as material texts that emerge out of student lived experiences in the economically disposed neighborhoods in which schools are located, and the dynamics of the schools and classrooms themselves. Attention is also paid to educators and students who push back against these forces in an effort to reclaim voice, identity and dignity.