Abstract: In cultural, community, and regional studies, the anthropological tendency to describe and construct the whole can often lead to glossing and misunderstanding the parts. This has been particularly the case in studies that focus on African Americans. Although anthropologists note the diversity of the population, little attention is paid to the significance of that diversity from an internal perspective. The descriptions in Chapter 3 of a number of Lafayette County's intimate culture groups identified various heterogeneous group identities existing within the Black community. The underlying reasons for the construction of such groups give insight into the importance of identifying and understanding such “heterogeneous identities.” This is more than ever the case when analyzing the cohesiveness of any regional culture, particularly one with group identities that cut across kinship, economic, spatial, educational, and political lines. These intraethnic/intraracial identities, for the most part, become key determiners of social behavior and perceptions.
Publication Year: 2004
Publication Date: 2004-11-22
Language: en
Type: book-chapter
Indexed In: ['crossref']
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