African American Communication: Exploring Identity and Culture

by Hecht,Michael L.

• ISBN13: 9780805839951
• ISBN10: 080583995X
• Edition: 2nd
• Format: Nonspecific Binding
• Copyright: 2002-09-01
• Publisher: Routledge

Summary

What communicative experiences are particular to African Americans? How do many African Americans define themselves culturally? How do they perceive intracultural and intercultural communication? These questions are answered in this second edition ofAfrican American Communication: Exploring Identity and Culture. Informing multiple audiences interested in African American culture, from cultural researchers and practitioners to educators, policymakers, and community leaders, this innovative and invaluable resource examines the richness and depth of African American communication norms and patterns, as well as African American identities. Positive and healthy African American identities are centrally positioned throughout the book. Applying the cultural contracts theory and the communication theory of identity, authors Michael L. Hecht, Ronald L. Jackson II, and Sidney A. Ribeau explore relationships among African Americans, as well as between African Americans and European Americans, while highlighting the need for sensitivity to issues of power when discussing race, ethnicity, and culture. This wide-ranging volume provides an extensive review of the relevant literature and offers recommendations designed to encourage understanding of African American communication in a context extending beyond Eurocentric paradigms. Considering African American identity with a communicative, linguistic, and relational focus, this volume: *Defines African American identities by describing related terms, such as self, self-concept, personhood and identity; *Explores Afrocentricity and African American discourse; *Examines the status of African Americans in the United States using census statistics and national studies from other research agencies; *Considers identity negotiation and competence; and *Features a full chapter on African American relationships, including gendered, familial, intimate, adolescent and adult, homosexual, friendship, communal, and workplace relationships. African American Communication: Exploring Identity and Culturebegins an important dialogue in the communication discipline, intercultural studies, African American studies and other fields concerned with the centrality of culture and communication as it relates to human behavior. It is intended for advanced students and scholars in intercultural communication, interpersonal communication, communication theory, African American/Black studies, social psychology, sociolinguistics, education, and family studies.

Author Biography

Michael L. Hecht (PhD, 1976, University of Illinois) is a Professor and Head in the Department of Communication Arts and Sciences at the Pennsylvania State University. Ronald L. Jackson II (PhD, 1996, Howard University) is Assistant Professor of Culture and Communication Theory in the Department of Communication Arts & Sciences at the Pennsylvania State University Sidney A. Ribeau (PhD, 1979, University of Illinois) is a Professor of Interpersonal Communication and President of Bowling Green State University

Table of Contents

About the Authors	xi
Acknowledgments	xiii
Preface	xv
Introduction	1	(44)
Surveying the Ancestral Heritage of African American Culture	8	(2)
Origins of African American Culture	8	(2)
Historical Roots of the Composite African American Experience and the Metatheory of Afrocentricity	10	(2)
African Americans in Contemporary U.S. Culture	12	(15)
Employment	13	(3)
Social Structure	16	(4)
Institutions	20	(1)
The Black Church	20	(1)
Education	21	(2)
Family	23	(3)
African American Culture and Communication	26	(1)
An Interpretive, Cultural Approach	27	(15)
Communication as a Cultural Process: A Perspective	28	(1)
Culture is Historically and Socially Emergent	29	(1)
People Co-create and Maintain Culture as a Function of Identity	30	(1)
People Negotiate Their Identities When They Come in Contact With Others	30	(1)
Identities are Pluralistic and Overlapping	31	(1)
Culture is a System of Interdependent Patterns of Conduct and Interpretations	32	(1)
Perceptions Provide a Rich Source of Interpretive Data	32	(1)
Sensitizing Constructs	33	(1)
Core Symbols and Prescriptions	34	(3)
Communication as Problematic	37	(2)
Conversation, Code, and Community	39	(2)
Cultural Identity	41	(1)
Summary and Overview of Chapters	42	(3)
Self, Identity, Cultural Identity, and African American Cultural Identity	45	(45)
Self-Concept and Identity	47	(41)
Social Categorization and Identity	49	(2)
Hierarchical Organization of Identity	51	(5)
Types of Identities	56	(5)
Identity and Social Interaction	61	(5)
The Process of Identity	66	(3)
Cultural Identity	69	(2)
Ethnolinguistic Identity	71	(2)
African American Cultural Identity	73	(15)
Conclusion	88	(2)
Communication Competence	90	(50)
Defining Competence	91	(1)
Effectiveness and Appropriateness	92	(3)
Knowledge, Motivation, and Skills	95	(1)
Cultural Differences in Communication Competence Patterns	96	(3)
Cultural Appropriateness	99	(8)
African American Norms for Acquaintances	103	(1)
African American Norms for Friends	104	(1)
African American Norms Within Unequal Power Relationships	105	(1)
African American Norms During Conflict	106	(1)
Cultural Effectiveness	107	(31)
Intercultural Communication Issues	110	(7)
Validation of the Issues	117	(1)
Comparisons of the Issues in In-Group and Out-Group Conversations	118	(2)
Comparisons to European Americans	120	(4)
Intercultural Conversational Improvement Strategies	124	(1)
Original Strategies	124	(3)
Additional Strategies	127	(3)
Validation of the Conversational Improvement Strategies	130	(2)
Intercultural Conversational Improvement Strategies in In-Group and Out-Group Conversations	132	(1)
A Comparison of African American and European American Conversational Improvement Strategies	133	(2)
Intracultural Communication Effectiveness	135	(3)
Conclusion	138	(2)
African American Language and Communication Styles	140	(39)
Language Style	142	(18)
Black English	143	(6)
Code or Style Switching	149	(7)
Oral Tradition	156	(4)
Core Symbols and Communication Style	160	(12)
Sharing	161	(1)
Touch	162	(1)
Distance	162	(1)
Immediacy and Relationship Intimacy	162	(1)
Rituals	163	(3)
Toasting	166	(1)
Uniqueness	167	(1)
Positivity and Emotionality	168	(1)
Realism	169	(1)
Assertiveness	170	(2)
Other Communication Styles	172	(7)
Coping Styles	172	(1)
Interpersonal Styles	173	(1)
Relationships	173	(2)
Verbal Messages	175	(1)
Nonverbal Messages	175	(2)
Summary	177	(2)
African American Relationships and Cultural Identity Negotiation	179	(48)
African American Children and Youth Relationships	180	(11)
Development of Racial Attitudes Among African American Children	181	(2)
Race-Related Stress Among African American Adolescents	183	(2)
African American Adolescents and Educational Achievement	185	(2)
Gender Identity Differences Among African American Adolescents and Adults	187	(4)
African American Families	191	(20)
African American Family Structure	191	(7)
Sibling Relationships	198	(3)
Parent--Child Relationships	201	(1)
Informal and Formal Adoption Networks	202	(1)
Informal Adoption	202	(1)
Formal Adoptions	203	(2)
Motherhood	205	(3)
Fatherhood	208	(3)
African American Friendship, Dating, and Marital Relationships	211	(11)
Adult Friendship Networks	211	(2)
Interpersonal Solidarity and Loving Relationships	213	(1)
Dating Relationships	213	(3)
Marital Relationships	216	(4)
Homosexual Relationships	220	(2)
African American Workplace Relationships	222	(3)
Conclusion	225	(2)
Conclusions	227	(36)
Status of African Americans in the United States	227	(2)
Communication Theory of Identity	229	(12)
Basic Concepts of the Communication Theory of Identity	230	(3)
Frames of Reference	233	(1)
The Interpenetration of Frames	234	(1)
Basic Assumptions of the Theory	235	(1)
Identity as a Personal Frame	236	(1)
Identity as an Enactment Frame	236	(1)
Identity as a Relationship Frame	236	(1)
Identity as a Communal Frame	237	(1)
Applications of the Theory	238	(3)
Cultural Contracts Theory	241	(9)
Basic Premises	242	(1)
Identities Require Affirmation	243	(1)
Identities Are Constantly Being Exchanged	243	(1)
Identities Are Contractual	244	(1)
Basic Assumptions of Cultural Contracts Theory	244	(1)
Cultural Contract Types	245	(5)
Future Directions	250	(11)
Research Methodology	254	(6)
Practical Applications	260	(1)
Conclusion	261	(2)
References	263	(36)
Author Index	299	(10)
Subject Index	309