Assignments for Discussion of Black Picket Fences, Tuesday 3/12

For Tuesday, each working group will be expected to discuss a segment of Black Picket Fences for approximately 10 minutes (without faculty assistance).  You do not necessarily have to organize as a group prior to Tuesday, but each of you should be prepared to lead the class in discussion (again, without faculty assistance) per the guidelines below.  Materials for your discussion topics can be found on pages 90-218.

Ben’s group:

What privileges Groveland’s middle-class youth, compared to their counterparts in poorer black neighborhoods?  What factors work against Groveland’s middle-class youth?

Chris’s group:

Discuss the cultural, social and financial tensions faced by Groveland’s youth at the crossroads of “Street” and “Decent”?  Discuss the gendered nature of street temptations.  Give examples.

Leah’s group:

What are some of the strategies employed by Groveland’s middle-class adults to steer their children away from “street life” and toward a middle-class future?  Use examples (from anywhere in the book) to support your discussion.

Becky’s group:

Explain what is meant by the term “ghetto trance”.  Discuss (and support with examples) the author’s 3 analytical types along the continuum of those young people who embody gangsta behaviors and those who reject them.

Andy’s group:

Using NIKE as a case study, discuss the targeting of black youth – as conspicuous consumers - by mass marketers.  Explain how NIKE becomes part of the “ghetto trance”, and the implications of this phenomenon.  Give examples to support your assertions.

Brian’s group:

Present a summary of Black Picket Fences, discussing its principal concepts, ideas, and theory, as you understand them.