"
Integration Interrupted is a masterpiece. In this beautifully written and meticulously researched book, Karolyn Tyson's close examination of how our schools are implicated in the creation of oppositional culture among all students, white as well as black, should occasion a major rethinking among scholars and policymakers about the mechanisms and processes that produce racial inequality in American education." --Pamela Barnhouse Walters, James H. Rudy Professor of Sociology, Indiana University
"Using the voices of students from kindergarten to senior year, Tyson historicizes the 'acting white' epithet. Noting that rarely does educational success form the content of 'acting white,' Tyson traces this term to the structure of desegregated schools, notably the racialization of achievement through visible school policies. By excavating the contextual factors involved,
Integration Interrupted makes an important contribution, one that offers no comfort to those quick to blame black students for their disadvantages." --Samuel R. Lucas, University of California, Berkeley
Integration Interrupted is an important contribution to the literature on race and academic acheivement. Tyson effectively shifts the focus of the "acting white" debate from black students' culture to local school structures such as the demographics of the student population and the racial composition of advanced classes. The author highlights how "racialized" tracking in schools works to undermine the academic and social benefits we have come to expect from students' attendance at integrated, racially diverse schools." --
Contemporary Sociology "In
Integration Interrupted, Tyson users over ten years of qualitative research with data from 250 students in over thirty elemtnary and secondary schools... Tyson shows that school context and structures tend to shape students' attitudes around achievement." --
Social Forces "Tyson's book... is insightful and well written." --
American Journal of Sociology