Annegret Daniela Staiger. Learning Difference: Race and Schooling in the Multiracial Metropolis.

Annegret Daniela Staiger. Learning Difference: Race and Schooling in the Multiracial Metropolis. Stanford: Stanford UP, 2006. 223 pp. $55.00.

Annegret Staiger's compelling ethnographic study focuses on how race is formed and how it functions at Roosevelt High School (RHS) in Newtown, one of the most diverse cities in the United States. Over a period of several months, Staiger acquainted herself with the city and the school, observed classes and activities, and interviewed a large number of staff and students in order to examine the role that race plays in the lives of the students. Staiger's book draws on a body of work that demonstrates how schools are racializing institutions; how "schools socialize their students into adopting specific racialized identities, whether through discipline regimes, course assignments, or intentional or unintentional neglect" (4). By interviewing the students and staff, Staiger examines the discrepancies between the school's public image and the students' personal experiences in order to explore "the subtle but pervasive racializing effects of an apparently integrated and multicultural institution in the post-civil rights era" (4).

Staiger looks closely at the school and the surrounding neighbourhood, considering the impact of busing, gang culture, and Proposition 187 (the proposal that undocumented immigrants be refused social services). Although RHS has been celebrated for its academic excellence and diversity, Staiger challenges the assumption that the school is harmoniously multi-cultural by unpacking the ways in which the institution tacitly reinforces the equation of "gifted" with "whiteness." Through a careful analysis of the school's educational programs, such as GROW, a magnet program for the gifted and BusTech--for students "at risk," Staiger reveals the ways in which both programs "manage to reorganize and redistribute resources along racial lines and reproduce a set of racial labels and expectations" (39). Although Whites at RHS were at a minority, Staiger shows how they formed a clear majority in the GROW program. Though race is never mentioned by the school, Staiger shows the ways in which the disproportionate amount of white students in GROW reveal "within-school segregation" (41).

Staiger's views are often unsettling and, although she is careful not to claim that her study functions as a microcosm for wider U. S. society, her observations challenge views of post-civil rights era American schooling as harmoniously multicultural. She offers a stark rejoinder to the assumption that "since we are integrated, we don't need to talk about race any more" (4). By observing classroom and break-time social interaction, Staiger examines how racial identities are articulated in an institutionalized space, and how students engage in "racializing practices," both in their interaction with one and another and collectively; exploring, for example, how many Cambodian Americans identify as African Americans and Latinos as Whites. Central to her book is an examination of how "racial identities are articulated in a multiracial and multiethnic social space," and how, when numerous racial groups are involved, "race relations are more complicated than they are between a dominant and subordinate group" (174). Staiger persuasively argues that "there is little inherently visible about race," urging the importance of understanding specific racial meanings within a particular environment.

Staiger's work draws on a number of theoretical practices, including performativity, signifying, racial formation theory, and identity formation and identification. Her research reveals that the students do not merely replicate how race is practiced in other domains but they experiment with new notions of racial identity. In numerous excerpts of transcripts from a broad cross-section of the school, the students emerge, not only as victims of a racially inscribed establishment but also as "political actors with an analytical acumen for assessing and forming power structures" (5).

In one of the most engaging chapters, "Performing Manhood through the Race Matrix," Staiger examines the role of RHS in the formation of masculinity and how race and gender are linked to power through an ongoing process. Staiger illustrates the ways in which the school produces racialized masculinities by drawing on identity and ethnicity theories and by interviewing students about their performances and views on "pimps," "hustlers," and "players." During her observations Staiger concludes that the adolescents at RHS display what she refers to as a "perplexing insularity" in the ways that they constructed identities. In contrast to other theories of group identification, Staiger observes that the students pay attention "only to those who could have a significant impact on them, either as threats or allies" (172). During the interview transcripts Staiger's sensitivity and awareness shines through during her sharp observations about clothes, language, and teenage subculture. Throughout the book Staiger picks up on casual comments and unpacks the nuances from her relaxed and off-guard subjects, including conversations that she overhears. Such inclusion of over-heard comments brings the book to life but can make for uncomfortable reading. On one level it is little more than the guilty pleasure of eavesdropping, but on another it is a reminder that Staiger is an ethnographer studying her subjects. As she writes in the conclusion, the "strength of ethnography lies in describing cultural practices as they are expressed in interactions at the local level." By "being there," Staiger writes, "an ethnographer also captures collective processes and patterns of interactions as they shape people's everyday lives" (173). In Learning Difference Staiger allows her personality to filter through the pages, albeit in a restrained way. She is clearly passionate about the subject matter and, though critical about many of the school's educational practices, she offers fair and balanced views. Staiger's readable and informative book should be highly recommended to those working in American schools and to anyone interested in youth culture, education, and identity theory. Staiger's inclusion of numerous interviews keeps this book vibrant and at times surprising. This is a methodical and challenging work that cuts across a number of academic disciplines.

Reviewed by

Douglas Field

Staffordshire University, UK