Contesting Culture

By Gerd Baumann

Book Overview

In a vivid, ethnographic account of immigrant groups living in West London, Gerd Baumann breaks with the conventional discourse of community studies to explore their mutual interaction. By treating Southall--the most densely populated, multi-ethnic ghetto in the London area--as a social field, he considers how people from different backgrounds come to terms with one another and with the dominant, host culture, while at the same time affirming their own ethnic distinctiveness.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 052155554X
• ISBN13: 9780521555548
• Release Date: May 1996
• Publisher: Cambridge University Press
• Length: 242 Pages
• Weight: 0.75 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.5" x 5.9" x 8.9"

Customer Reviews

A Great Step Forward in Social and Cultural Analysis.

This is the first truly comprehensive and truly analytical account of urban multicultural processes: comprehensive because it locates all groups within the total socvial field of the London sururb Southall, and analytical because it distinguishes the dominant discourse ABOUT minorities from the demotic discourse about and AMONG minorities. I recommend this book to anyone engaged in the study and / or politics of cultural, ethnic, religious etc. minorities.