Barbershops as Cultural Forums for African American Males

Abstract

This ethnographic study explores the social interactions of African American males in an urban, Southeastern barbershop. Barbershops have become frequent research sites for communicating health messages. This study suggests that African American barbershops are discursive spaces where identity is shaped as young men are initiated into manhood and African American culture. Identity is explored through the communication theory of identity perspective. The study initially focuses on the communal aspects of African American male identity to understand how collective group consciousness is shaped. Then I examine how the collective worldview interpenetrates the interactional, relational, and individual levels of identity. Three themes found to recur from social interactions were male bonding, culture-specific history, and argumentation.