Chill Dudes” and “Academic-Type Students”

Relational Masculinity and Straddling Culture at an Urban High School

Dados Bibliográficos

ID11366234
AutoresSuneal Kolluri (0000-0001-9628-0032, University of California, Riverside, autor correspondente)
Ano2023
Volume129
Fascículo3
Páginas355-381
Data de publicação2023-05-01
Peer ReviewedSim
Open AccessNão
TipoARTICLE
PeriódicoAmerican Journal of Education (JOURNAL)
Identificadores do periódicoISSN: 0195-6744 • E-ISSN: 1549-6511
EditoraUniversity of Chicago Press (PUBLISHER • US)
DOI10.1086/724361
OpenAlexW4360608536
IdiomaEN
Citações recebidas1
Referências citadas33

Purpose: Much scholarly hand-wringing has concerned the academic engagement of Black and Latino boys. At the center of these conversations are questions of culture. Cultural disconnects between home and school are profound for students from marginalized communities, particularly so for young men. Prudence Carter asserts that young men in urban settings are more reluctant than their female peers to become “cultural straddlers”—students who adeptly navigate the cultural distance between school and urban communities. However, many Black and Latino boys succeed in school. This article will interrogate why some young men acquiesce to the cultural expectations of schooling, whereas others do not. Research Methods/Approach: Leveraging relational ethnographic methods, this article details the relationships, experiences, and masculine identities of two groups of young men—the Alpha Gentlemen fraternity and the Serpents of Steel Robotics team. Findings: This article argues that whether cultures of masculine play and toughness fit in academic settings depends on how masculinity is molded in relational contexts. Although dominant ideologies of masculinity—including play and competition—were significant in both groups, how the young men played and competed within their relational networks shaped identities that were more or less capable of straddling the cultures of home and school. Implications: The findings here elaborate Carter’s framing of boys’ cultural straddling, with implications for enhancing academic engagement among young Black and Latino men

Ethnography · Fraternity · Masculinity · Sociology · Anthropology · Critical Race Theory in Education · Early Childhood Education and Development · Gender Roles and Identity Studies · Gender Studies