All Our Kin: Strategies For Survival In A Black CommunityThis book chronicles a young white woman's sojourn into The Flats, an African-American ghetto community, to study the support system family and friends form when coping with poverty. Eschewing the traditional method of entry into the community used by anthropologists -- through authority figures and community leaders -- she approached the families herself by way of an acquaintance from school, becoming one of the first sociologists to explore the black kinship network from the inside. The result was a landmark study that debunked the misconception that poor families were unstable and disorganized. On the contrary, her study showed that families in The Flats adapted to their poverty conditions by forming large, resilient, lifelong support networks based on friendship and family that were very powerful, highly structured and surprisingly complex. This text is also an indictment of a social system that reinforces welfare dependency and chronic unemployment. |
Contents
The Flats | 1 |
Black Urban Poor 22 2 2 2 2 | 22 |
What Goes Round Comes Round | 32 |
Copyright | |
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A. R. Radcliffe-Brown adult female Anthropology Augusta aunt baby behavior birth black community black family boyfriend brother Chicago child child-keeping Code cooperating kinsmen culture of poverty daddy daily daughter domestic networks economic Ego's Elliot Eloise essential kin Ethel exchange father father's kin female kin Flats fosterage friendship Georgia Georgia's children girl friend gossip grandmother grantee grantee's household husband individuals interpersonal relationships Jackson Harbor Joyce Ladner Julia jural kids kin and friends kin network Kwaio living Magnolia and Calvin male mama marriage married matrifocal move Nancie Gonzalez nomic non-kin nuclear family obligations oldest parental rights participants personal kindreds personal kinship network personal networks poor raised reciprocal relationship relatives rent residence patterns responsible rights and duties rights in children role Ruby Banks Ruby's scene share Shared parental siblings socially recognized stayed swapping tion told uncle urban Viola Violet welfare woman women young