Contesting Culture: Discourses of Identity in Multi-ethnic London / Edition 1

by Gerd Baumann

Overview

In a vivid, ethnographic account of immigrant groups living in West London, Gerd Baumann breaks with the conventional discourse of community studies to explore their mutual interaction. By treating Southall—the most densely populated, multi-ethnic ghetto in the London area—as a social field, he considers how people from different backgrounds come to terms with one another and with the dominant, host culture, while at the same time affirming their own ethnic distinctiveness.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780521555548
Publisher:	Cambridge University Press
Publication date:	04/26/1996
Series:	Cambridge Studies in Social and Cultural Anthropology , #100
Edition description:	New Edition
Pages:	242
Product dimensions:	5.94(w) x 8.94(h) x 0.51(d)

Table of Contents

1. Introduction: the proceeds of research; 2. The argument; 3. A shared Southall culture?; 4. The dominant discourse applied: 'self-evident' communities of culture; 5. The dominant discourse denied: community as creation, culture as process; 6. 'Culture' and 'community' as terms of cultural contestation; 7. Conclusion.

Editorial Reviews

"...provides an important...view of identity formation, stressing its instrumental function over other aspects of identity production and negotiation." Kathleen Hall, Religious Studies Review

"...this book provides one of the better starting points for discussions of ethnicity in contemporary Europe." David Beriss, H-Net Reviews

From the Publisher