Members Of Ethnic Communities Research Articles

ACCULTURATION ON PSYCHOLOGICAL DISTRESS AMONG OLDER KOREAN AMERICANS: DOES ETHNIC COMMUNITY SOCIAL CAPITAL MATTER?

Abstract Responding to the rapid growth of the older immigrant population and building upon the literature on the critical role of acculturation in older immigrants’ health and well-being, we focused on the role of ethnic community social capital (social cohesion, social engagement, safety, and negative interactions in ethnic communities) in older Korean Americans. Guided by social capital and stress-buffering theories, we examined the direct effect of acculturation and ethnic community social capital on psychological distress, as well as their interactions. We hypothesized that the negative impact of low acculturation on mental health would be lowered by positive perceptions of and experiences in ethnic communities. Using data from 2,150 participants in the Study of Older Korean Americans (Age range = 60-99, M [SD] = 73.4 [7.97]), the direct and interactive effect models were examined. Results showed that low acculturation posed a significant risk to mental health and all four types of ethnic community social capital had a significant direct effect. Furthermore, significance was observed in the interaction of acculturation with social cohesion (B [SE] = .01 [.01]. p < .05) and with negative interaction (B [SE] = -.01 [.01]. p < .01). The negative impact of low acculturation was attenuated among those with a high sense of ethnic community social cohesion but intensified among those with frequent experiences of negative interactions with ethnic community members. Our findings highlight the importance of social capital that forms within ethnic communities and provide implications for programs and services to promote older immigrants’ mental well-being.

The Role of Ethnic Community Social Capital in the Association between Acculturation and Psychological Distress among Older Korean Americans.

Guided by the theories of social capital and stress-buffering, we examined how the association between low acculturation and poor mental health among older immigrants would be modified by social capital in ethnic communities (social cohesion, social engagement, perceived ethnic density, and the quality of social interaction). Using data from the Study of Older Korean Americans (N = 2,150, Mean age = 73.4), direct and interactive effect models were examined. Lower acculturation was associated with a greater level of psychological distress, and their link was modified by social cohesion (β = .19, p < .01) and negative social interactions (β = - .97, p < .01). Findings suggest that the mental health risk associated with low acculturation could be intensified when older immigrants perceive low sense of cohesion in their ethnic communities or have negative interactions with ethnic community members.

Противоречия советской теории этноса: история концепции и ее перспективы

The article discusses why the concept of ‘ethnos’ originated in the Russian Empire, and then in the second half of the 20th century, was developed in the USSR. The revival of the concept of ‘ethnos’ in the 1940s was caused by the need to solve such an applied problem as the drawing of post-war borders in post-war Eastern Europe. Later, Soviet ethnos theorists tried to combine incompatible Marxist ideas about the social class nature of society with the idea of an ‘ethnos’, close to Weber's understanding of an ethnic group, as a group with a specific culture and identity. At the turn of the 1980-1990s discussions began about the crisis of Soviet/Russian ethnology, primarily in the explanation of ethnicity, and several theorists suggested reorienting to the constructivist approach to ethnicity, which became dominant in English speaking science. The author considers the modern constructivist approach to ethnicity to be exhausted, since it failed to explain why members of ethnic minorities often prefer to self-identify with their ethnic ancestors more than with the states of which they are citizens, despite the efforts of states to reverse this orientation. It seems appropriate to abandon attempts to tie the ethnos to the social class structure of a particular socio-economic formation, that is, to abandon the concepts of ‘nation’ and ‘nationality’ (‘narodnost’). In theoretical terms, it makes sense to rely on the criticalrealist theory developed by sociologists and representatives of other social sciences, which makes it possible to show the derivativeness of identities from structural and cultural factors and the reverse effect of identities on them. The use of the concept of ‘ethnos’ within the framework of such an approach has the advantage that it can describe the mechanism that leads to the possibility of the long-term existence of ethnic groups as important components of the social structure of society. Such a mechanism is the intergenerational transmission of ethnic identity, the core of which is ethnic self-identification, due to mono-ethnic marriages. And the most salient feature of this mechanism includes ideas of members of ethnic communities that ethnicity is associated with the ethnic origin of people and is transmitted, as it were, by inheritance from parents to children.

The Impact of Festival Participation on Ethnic Identity: The Case of Yi Torch Festival

This study examines the impact of ethnic festival participation on community members' ethnic identity. Applying the Multigroup Ethnic Identity Measure (MEIM) in a questionnaire survey administered to the Yi ethnic community members attending a Yi Torch Festival in Sichuan Province, China, the study identifies that the festival attendees' ethnic identity is reflected in two dimensions: ethnic identity commitment and ethnic identity exploration. Independent sample t tests show that there is no difference of ethnic identity commitment between the performers' group and the spectators' group in the festival; however, performers as active participants of the festival score much higher on ethnic identity exploration than spectators. Practical festival management implications are discussed. This study has the following contributions. First, it validated the dimensionality and measurement stability of MEIM, in the context of ethnic festivals. Second, this study extends the application of MEIM from the fields of anthropology and ethnology to festival studies. This is the first study applying MEIM in festival research. It demonstrates the applicability of the MEIM scale in studying ethnic festivals. Lastly, this study expanded the knowledge on the relationship between festival participation and ethnic identity. It evidenced through empirical analysis that active participation in ethnic festivals by ethnic community members can effectively contribute to the ethnic identity of the community members, especially on the exploration dimension of ethnic identity.

Ethnic communities as a factor of counteracting extremism

The subject of this research is the activity of ethnocultural organizations on prevention of extremist behavior among members of ethnic communities. The object of this research is the processes of functionality of the following communities within the social space of Altai Krai: Center of Ethnic Culture &amp;ldquo;Vaynakh&amp;rdquo;; Altai Regional Social Organization &amp;ldquo;Tajik Diaspora&amp;rdquo;; Altai Regional Social Organization &amp;ldquo;Center of Uzbek Culture &amp;ndash; Batyr&amp;rdquo;; Local Ethnocultural Autonomy of Kazakhs &amp;ldquo;Asyl Mura&amp;rdquo;; Altai Regional Ethnocultural Organization &amp;ndash; &amp;ldquo;Azerbaijan&amp;rdquo;; Altai Regional Social Organization &amp;ldquo;Union of Armenians of the Altai Krai&amp;rdquo;; as well as Local Jewish Ethnocultural Autonomy. To determine the specificity of the socio-cultural, legal, economic and confessional adaptation of the members of ethnic communities, the authors used the method of focused interview, which allowed determining the position of the leaders of ethnocultural communities with regards to the aforementioned indexes, as well as acquire relevant information pertaining to prevention of extremist behavior. The article presents the analysis of the influence of ethnocultural organizations upon the process of social, legal, economic, and confessional adaptation of the representatives of ethnic communities. A hypothesis is supported that the problems of adaptation in the designated spheres produce strive towards extremist behavior. The scientific novelty consists in the fact that the empirical framework is comprised of results of interviews of the leaders of Jewish, Armenian, Kazakh, Uzbek, Tajik, and Chechen, and Azerbaijan ethnocultural organizations of Altai Region.

ОСОБЛИВОСТІ СТАНОВЛЕННЯ ТА РОЗВИТКУ ІНСТИТУТУ ГОСТИННОСТІ

The purpose of the article is to identify the peculiarities of the forms and methods of the hospitality institutions functioning in different countries, in particular, in the B.C. period and in the Middle Ages. The research methodology is based on an analytical method, the application of which made it possible to reveal the features of the hospitality institution formation and development. The scientific novelty consists in the ethnic and national specificity of the hospitality institute from the origins to the present to have been considered in a complex, the widest time measurement at various historical, geographical, and cultural levels. Conclusions. Hospitality as a sociocultural phenomenon is a specific model of behaviour of a certain ethnic community members a based on the system of customs and rituals, norms of morality and law existing in it. Each ethnic group creates a system of preferences that take root in life, forming certain standards of utilitarian behaviour. Ethnic and national features of the hospitality institution and its functioning are caused by an uneven level of social culture development in different regions and the world, as well as by the influence of local customs, rituals, tastes and preferences.

Learning to 'Be/Live' in Kathmandu City: Kirat Migrants' Transformation

This paper, based on auto/ethnographic inquiry, explores how particular urbanised Kirats (internal migrant ethnic community members in Kathmandu city from the East of Nepal) learn to live in Kathmandu city. The paper argues that the formal education in Nepal, guided by Western modern worldviews as hegemony, is promoting imported instrumental knowledge and skills, which are impractical and less relevant in the job market, particularly in the city context. The paper further argues that the work based learning support them to transform to become particular urban professionals. However, those Kirats are made forced-learners in urban structures for their adaptation in a new context. Such forced-learning is subjugating indigenous knowledge inherited to them from their ancestors and accumulated in their village life.

Ecological Networks and Community Attachment and Support Among Recently Resettled Refugees.

Interventions aimed at enhancing mental health are increasingly centered around promoting community attachment and support. However, few have examined and tested the specific ecological factors that give rise to these key community processes. Drawing from insights from the ecological network perspective, we tested whether spatial and social overlap in routine activity settings (e.g., work, school, childcare) with fellow ethnic community members is associated with individuals' attachment to their ethnic communities and access to social resources embedded in their communities. Data on routine activity locations drawn from the Refugee Well-Being Project (based in a city in the Southwestern United States) were used to reconstruct theecological networks of recently resettled refugee communities, which were two-mode networks that comprise individuals and their routine activity locations. Results indicated that respondents' community attachment and support increased with their ecological network extensity-which taps the extent to which respondents share routine activity locations with other community members. Our study highlights a key ecological process that potentially enhances individuals' ethnic community attachment that extends beyond residential neighborhoods.

HISTORICAL PRINCIPLES OF HOSPITALITY DEVELOPMENT IN UKRAINE

The aim of the work. The article examines the essence of the hospitality concept. It determines the main historical principles of its development in the territory of Kyivan Rus, outlining the influence of the Christian tradition on the Ukrainian hospitality formation. The methodology of research. To conduct the study such methods as analytical; systemic; historical; logical; culturological were applied. The scientific novelty is a systematic study of the hospitality’s historical principles development as a socio-cultural phenomenon in Ukraine. Conclusions. Hospitality as a sociocultural phenomenon is a specific moral behavior model of a certain ethnic community members based on the system of its customs and rituals, morality norms and law. For many centuries adherering to its own traditions in the ordinary, ritual and everyday spheres of activity, every ethnos creates a system of advantages that penetrate into an everyday life, stipulating certain standards of the utilitarian behavior. Ethnic and national features of hospitality and its functioning are predetermined by a heterogeneous level of the the social culture development in different regions of the world and by the influence of local customs, rituals and tastes.

Ethnography of Female Diaspora Networks: The Emerging Case of Pakistani Female Entrepreneurs in London

The business environment of a host country reflects the complex interplay of multiple social, cultural and religious factors with the lives and work of ethnic minority women. The distinct social context of each ethnic or immigrant group determines its position in the host country. Every ethnic minority group has its unique characteristics, social and cultural conventions and resources that facilitate or constrain their entrepreneurial endeavours. As social actors, ethnic minority entrepreneurs draw support and resources from the ‘network of social relations’; hence it is the ‘social network’ that facilitates or constraints the social actors’. It is the formation and utilization of a network of relationships that shapes the entrepreneurial outcomes which are not independent of external factors. Exploration of the outcomes of the interplay of gender, ethnicity and religion shaping the personal network of Pakistani female entrepreneurs forms the focus of this article in which ethnographic inquiry is used to explore the ‘meaning and perception’ attached to social relations by Pakistani female entrepreneurs in a special ethnic and immigrant context. Gender as a ‘social practice’ influenced by religious and cultural values leads Pakistani females to maintain ‘women only networks’ and rely on kinship networks. Transition from ethnic to non-ethnic and expansion of network is the outcome of mistrust on ethnic community members.

Herbal Folk Remedies in cure of Arthritis by Ethnic communities in Madhya Pradesh, India

The study was conducted in pockets of Madhya Pradesh having pre-dominance of ethnic communities comprising of Gond, Baiga, Bediya, Bhil, Bhilala, Bhariya, Korku, Pardhi Kol, Mawasi, Patni (sub-group of Gond tribes) and Padwania (Sub group of Kol tribes) tribes, in districts of Jabalpur, Seoni, Hoshangabad and Chindwara to document plants prevalent in cure of Arthritis. Arthritis is the most common disease causing intolerable pain and inflammation due to abnormal metabolism of uric acid, which are deposited in the cartilage of joints with frequent pains and swelling of joints. The present investigation was carried out in the state of Madhya Pradesh, India during period 2013 September to 2016 February. The study was conducted by interviews and focus group discussions with local indigenous communities. During the visits a number of traditional herbal healers, elderly person of tribal communities, were contacted and information was collected through interview, observations and discussion held during field survey. The local traditional herbal healers (vaids) had specialized knowledge about availability of these plants (trees, shrubs, herbs, and climbers) as well as their seasonal availability, time of collection and collected roots, leaves, seeds and fruits in cure of ailments known as arthritis and prepared different herbal formulations which varied from locality to locality and one ethic community to other. The study revealed that plants from 32 genera comprising of 22 plant families with 22 prescriptions of herbal folk medicines were prevalent among different ethnic communities as documented from 18 Indigenous and traditional healers locally known as Vaidraj. These vaidraj used different prescription in different pockets within the tribal community as well as varied from one ethnic community to another based on species in abundance in forest and around forest fringes of their habitat. These healers were collecting plants from 32 genera with 22 plant families from 33 species. They used to collect roots, leaves, seeds, fruits, bark and rhizomes and were formulating powder, paste, extract, decoction, juice and oil and were administered on patients suffering from pain in order to cure ailment called as Arthritis. These elderly folk healers as well as members of ethnic communities had vast knowledge about these plants, mode of administration of dose and were using these information since several generations. But during the survey it was revealed that among the younger generation this vital knowledge was declining gradually. The study concludes that herbal folk medicines have been recognised as of great importance in primary health care of ethnic communities across the globe. Plant based traditional knowledge is being used as a tool for search for new sources of drugs in herbal medicines.

Social capital in ethnic communities and mental health: a study of older Korean immigrants.

This study examined how social capital in ethnic communities (e.g., social cohesion, community support, community participation, and negative interaction) influences depressive symptoms of older Korean immigrants. Using survey data from 209 participants in Central Texas (M(age) = 69.6, SD = 7.50), hierarchical regression models of depressive symptoms were examined with the following sets of predictors: (1) demographics, (2) physical health, (3) sociocultural factors, and (4) ethnic community factors. After controlling for the multiple sets of individual-level variables previously known to be important predictors of mental health, ethnic community factors made a substantial contribution. Higher levels of depressive symptoms were observed among individuals who received lower levels of community support (β = -0.14, p < 0.05), had limited participation in ethnic community events and activities (β = -0.15, p < 0.05), and reported more frequent negative interactions with ethnic community members (β = 0.12, p < 0.05). Findings highlight the importance of social capital in ethnic communities and hold implications for improving older ethnic immigrants' mental well-being.

“Gamblefree Day,” A Community Project to Minimise Harm Caused by Gambling Disorder in New Zealand Chinese and Korean Communities: Formative Evaluation and Lessons Learnt

Gambling disorder is one of the mental health issues concerning the New Zealand Asian migrant com- munity. This article describes how Asian problem gam- bling services used ''Gamblefree Day'' (GFD) as a health promotion campaign to raise awareness of gambling harm in New Zealand Chinese and Korean communities. The nationwide GFD health promotion project consisted of an action group, song-writing competition, and discount res- taurant dining, as well as the recruitment and training of volunteers specifically for the campaign. The formative evaluation of the campaign adopted a mixed method approach collecting survey data and qualitative feedback from campaign participants and volunteers over a period of three years. Formative evaluation focusing on Auckland was conducted to collect feedback from restaurant owners, volunteers, and participants of various events. Participants in the events reported increased understanding about problem gambling and the support services available in the communities. The formative evaluation of this project highlighted the concerns about excessive gambling within the Chinese and Korean populations in New Zealand. Study outcomes would encourage health promotion prac- titioners to systematically investigate changes over time in awareness of gambling problems and help seeking behav- iors such as accessing counseling services among members of ethnic communities by using standardized measures. There is a dearth of theoretical or empirical literature addressing best practice for promoting the mental health of ethnic minority groups. Therefore, this paper sheds light on lessons learnt in designing culturally responsive interven- tions for Asian or similar migrant populations.

Left, right, left. The influence of party ideology on the political representation of ethnic minorities in Belgium

The scholarly literature on ethnic minority representation often points to the “political opportunity structure” – particularly that of political parties – to explain the prevalence of ethnic minorities in elected politics. Informed by the literature on women in politics, this article examines how the ideology of political parties affects the representation of ethnic minorities. This article is based on a qualitative case study of 2 major Belgian cities and includes 33 semi-structured interviews with ethnic minority councillors, candidates, members of ethnic communities, and party representatives. Interviews were analyzed using the grounded theory approach. We found party ideology to affect the support parties received from ethnic minority voters and candidates; party ideology does not, however, influence party strategies to enhance ethnic minority representation. Overall, political parties do not seem to invest in their ethnic minority candidates and councillors.

Nation, Race, and Language: Discussing transnational identities in colonial Singapore,circa1930

AbstractAround 1930, at a time of rising nationalisms in China and India, English-educated Chinese and Indians in the British colony of Singapore debated with great intensity the issue of national identity. They sought to clarify their own position as members of ethnic communities of immigrant origin, while remaining individuals who identified the territory of British Malaya as their home. Readers' letters published in theMalaya Tribune, an English-medium newspaper founded to serve the interests of Anglophone Asians, questioned prevailing assumptions of how to define a nation from the perspectives of territory, political loyalty, race, and language. Lived circumstances in Malaya proved that being Chinese or Indian could encompass a range of political, cultural, and linguistic characteristics, rather than a homogenous identity as promoted by nationalist movements of the time. Through these debates, Chinese and Indians in Malaya found ways to simultaneously reaffirm their ethnic pride as well as their sense of being ‘Malayan’.

Ethnic entrepreneurial business cluster development: Chinatowns in Melbourne

PurposeThis paper aims to review the concept of clustering and to examine both mature and newly evolved natural ethnic entrepreneurial business clusters in Melbourne, Australia.Design/methodology/approachPhenomenological methodology was employed in this research. This qualitative research technique examines life experiences in an effort to understand and give them meaning. This method is seen to be appropriate as the study is investigative and explores the historical development, maintenance and growth of ethnic entrepreneurship clusters.FindingsBox Hill has evolved into a second Chinatown in Melbourne through natural ethnic entrepreneurial business cluster. The key features of these entrepreneurs are high educational and professional competence; focus on hard work and persistence; independence and sense of freedom as the key driving force; maintaining cultural linkage with countries of origin; almost no assistance from government agencies; succession or exit is not a major issue; and strong belief in providing employment and making a contribution to society.Practical implicationsThe ethnic Chinese entrepreneurs in Box Hill as well as in CBD Melbourne's Chinatown and the Chinese community at large realize that they needed to be socially participative and politically active. Through active participation in local politics, the ethnic community members are able to improve and provide more services and facilities to the community. As a result, the cluster becomes bigger and serves better the social needs of the community members, ethnic as well as non‐ethnic group members.Originality/valueThere is a paucity of literature on ethnic entrepreneurial business clusters that seem to be a growing feature of many cities such as Melbourne, Sydney, Vancouver, Los Angeles and other cities in the western hemisphere. This paper investigates this phenomenon in Melbourne.

The Canadian Ethnocultural Council and Evolving Multiculturalism

Following the announcement of the multicultural policy in October of 1971, the Federal Government appointed members of ethnic communities to the newly created Canadian Consultative Council on Multiculturalism to participate in the formulation of recommendations which would address the challenges of implementing that policy. When the work of that committee was concluded, some of the ethnocultural groups took the initiative to create a new body which would continue addressing policy matters of concern to the cross section of communities. Thus, the Canadian Ethnocultural Council, a grassroots organization comprised of voices representing many ethnic and racially diverse communities and organizations, was established in 1980. It played a key role in shaping the implementation of the policy. This paper discusses that role and the precedent set by the Canadian Ethnocultural Council in implementing cross cultural cooperation at the grassroots level. Suite à l'annonce de la politique du multiculturalisme en octobre 1971, le Gouvernement fédéral a nommé des membres des communautés ethniques au Conseil consultatif canadien sur le multiculturalisme nouvellement créé, pour contribuer à l'élaboration de recommandations qui visent à répondre aux défis posés par la mise en place de cette politique. Une fois que ce comité a eu terminé son travail, quelques groupes ethnoculturels prirent l'initiative d'en créer un second pour continuer à traiter de sujets qui préoccupent une variété de communautés. Ils ont donc fondé en 1980 le Conseil ethnoculturel du Canada, une organisation de base qui comprend des voix d'un nombre communautés ethniquement et racialement diverses. Cet organisme a joué un rôle clé dans la définition et la mise en oeuvre de la nouvelle politique. Cet article porte sur ce rôle et sur le précédent créé par le Conseil ethnoculturel du Canada dans la mise en place d'une coopération interculturelle au niveau de la base.

Cultural Representation in Philadelphia Murals: Images of Resistance and Sites of Identity Negotiation

This case study on the Mural Arts Program in Philadelphia, PA, explores cultural representations of African Americans and their effects on cultural identifications in intercultural communities. Critical visual analysis of two popular murals reveals that when ethnic community members are empowered in producing self-representations, the resulting artwork counters dominant media images and constitutes new modes and themes of resistance for disenfranchised communities. Interpretive analysis of mural production processes and audience reception extends communication theory about cultural identity by suggesting how visual representations of cultural group members serve as sites of identity negotiation.

Sounds of Reform: Progressivism and Music in Chicago, 1873-1935 by Derek Vaillant

Book Reviews 145 and are years if not decades away from the restoration of what the IJC's water-quality board calls beneficial uses. This slender, thoughtful volume is particularly valuable in light of a new Great Lakes Basin Collaborative strategy released by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency in December 2005 that calls for $20 billion in public spending to restore and protect the Great Lakes. Spreading a layer of cash over existing, and sometimes dysfunctional, governmental efforts to restore the lakes will not deliver the anticipated results, however, as Restoration of theGreat Lakes illustrates. Even so, the author remains hopeful, arguing that "the potential remains great" (p. 115) for Great Lakes rehabilitation if governments can learn the value of working in close partnership with ecosystem users and citizens at large and cede or share some of their management authority. Dave Dempsey Saint Paul, Minnesota Derek Vaillant. Sounds of Reform: Progressivism andMusic in Chicago, 1873 1935. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 2003. Pp. 291. Bibliography. Illustrations. Index. Notes. Cloth, $59.95; paper, $19.95. Derek Vaillant presents a detailed, nuanced examination of music as the handmaiden of progressive reform and charts the motivations, triumphs, failings, and ideological limits of using music for civic uplift. In the years covered by this book, Chicago provided music progressives with a seemingly vast opportunity to impose Americanization and democratization on newly arrived working-class European immigrants. Competing plans for reform, however, and the claims of Chicago's many different ethnic groups meant that most proposals for musical uplift were contested. Additionally, the necessity of rebuilding following the disastrous Chicago fire engaged the musical reformers in designing and locating new parks and spaces for musical performances. Not only were musical progressives divided about which musical forms best suited their purposes, but also the ethnic communities, targets of this musical largesse, had ideas of their own that usually conflicted with the reformers' aims. Given the multiplicity of competing expectations it is awonder that the musical progressives did not give up. Instead, they fought for their ideas, sometimes compromising their plans for formal park structures and classically oriented concerts in order to achieve their objectives. While concentrating on music as a reform tool, 146 Michigan Historical Review the usually middle-class civic authorities and reformers had to contend with each other over the allocation of funds and the maintenance of the racial status quo. Vaillant asserts that immigrant communities, civic authorities, and musical progressives usually shared antiblack sentiments. Yet from the 1890s onward, all of these groups had to deal with the incursion of Dixieland and other syncopated, popular forms of music into the reformers' world. Music's commercialization further challenged reformers' efforts and continued to have an impact on and modify shifting racial and musical boundaries. The chapter, "They Whirl Off the Edges of a Decent Life: Unmasking Difference at the Dance Hall, 1904-1933," is a brilliant analysis of social dancing in Chicago, commercial taxi-dance parlors, and the ways that whiteness was challenged and interrogated in these venues. This chapter illuminates the struggles of new jazz musicians, second generation ethnic community members who received their training through progressive music-reform initiatives, but then sometimes opposed the middle-class reformers' musical norms. Any history of reform in Chicago must include Hull House's contribution to civic life and change. Vaillant does not disappoint, as this institution's work is interwoven throughout the volume. His tour de force concludes with a brief, imaginative comparison of Jane Addams with Tupac Shakur as an exemplar of music's continuing reform impulse, even in our postmodern world. This study may serve as a template for uncovering musical progressive activism in midwestern centers such as Detroit, Cincinnati, Columbus, and Cleveland. Harry A. Reed, Professor Emeritus Michigan State University Phyllis Vine. One Man's Castle: Clarence Darrow inDefense of theAmerican Dream. New York: Amistad, 2005. Pp. 349. Bibliography. Illustrations. Index. Notes. Paper, $13.95. Most people associate racial activism with the civil rights movement that began in the 1950s. But long before that movement started, African Americans committed to the defense of civil rights asserted their rights to equality and citizenship. One of these people was Dr. Ossian...

One Man's Castle: Clarence Darrow in Defense of the American Dream by Phyllis Vine

146 Michigan Historical Review the usually middle-class civic authorities and reformers had to contend with each other over the allocation of funds and the maintenance of the racial status quo. Vaillant asserts that immigrant communities, civic authorities, and musical progressives usually shared antiblack sentiments. Yet from the 1890s onward, all of these groups had to deal with the incursion of Dixieland and other syncopated, popular forms of music into the reformers' world. Music's commercialization further challenged reformers' efforts and continued to have an impact on and modify shifting racial and musical boundaries. The chapter, "They Whirl Off the Edges of a Decent Life: Unmasking Difference at the Dance Hall, 1904-1933," is a brilliant analysis of social dancing in Chicago, commercial taxi-dance parlors, and the ways that whiteness was challenged and interrogated in these venues. This chapter illuminates the struggles of new jazz musicians, second generation ethnic community members who received their training through progressive music-reform initiatives, but then sometimes opposed the middle-class reformers' musical norms. Any history of reform in Chicago must include Hull House's contribution to civic life and change. Vaillant does not disappoint, as this institution's work is interwoven throughout the volume. His tour de force concludes with a brief, imaginative comparison of Jane Addams with Tupac Shakur as an exemplar of music's continuing reform impulse, even in our postmodern world. This study may serve as a template for uncovering musical progressive activism in midwestern centers such as Detroit, Cincinnati, Columbus, and Cleveland. Harry A. Reed, Professor Emeritus Michigan State University Phyllis Vine. One Man's Castle: Clarence Darrow inDefense of theAmerican Dream. New York: Amistad, 2005. Pp. 349. Bibliography. Illustrations. Index. Notes. Paper, $13.95. Most people associate racial activism with the civil rights movement that began in the 1950s. But long before that movement started, African Americans committed to the defense of civil rights asserted their rights to equality and citizenship. One of these people was Dr. Ossian Sweet, a member of what W. E. B. DuBois termed the "Talented Tenth," who defied Detroit's racial segregation in 1925 to move into an all-white Book Reviews 147 neighborhood. His family was met by awhite mob throwing bricks at the Sweets's home. As police officers looked on, the situation became increasingly violent. The Sweets and their friends defended themselves against the attack, which was led by Ku Klux Klan sympathizers. A member of the white mob was killed, and Dr. Sweet and ten of his friends were arrested on murder charges. In her book One Man's Castle: Clarence Darrow in Defense of theAmerican Dream, Phyllis Vine uses the Sweet case and trial as a window into the state of American race relations in the early decades of the twentieth century and a way of understanding contemporary racial problems. According to Vine, the story of Dr. Sweet "permits us to understand the personal as political, the historical in the contemporary. It is a reminder that the past challenges us in the present" (p. 5). One Man's Castle chronicles historical events and Dr. Sweet's life in order to outline the state of race relations during the late 1800s and early 1900s. But the author manages to create more than just a biography of Dr. Sweet. She conveys the racial tension that was rampant in Detroit, analyzes the legal details of the trial and the character of its participants, portrays the genius of Clarence Darrow, and provides a glimpse into the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) as it developed into an organization dedicated to achieving legal justice for African Americans. Kevin Boyle's Arc ofJustice uses a similar approach in its treatment of the Sweet case. While both Boyle and Vine focus on Ossian Sweet and his trial, they are more keenly interested in the larger historical backdrop of racism, politics, and civil rights. Vine reminds readers that racial segregation and oppression thrived outside the southern United States, especially during the 1920s, when race riots exploded across the country. Although well-written, the narrative stalls at times as Vine attempts to sort through a myriad of historical details. Despite this minor complaint...