Reading: Stack, All Our Kin
Harvey and Reed, "The Culture of Poverty: An Ideological Analysis" (article)

For each week's readings, you should complete the Ethnography Response Form and submit it as part of your fieldnotes for that week. While the form asks you general questions about an author's theoretical framework and methodology, these study guide questions are intended to help you focus your reading on the specific issues and methods used by the author and to consider both critically. These study guide questions will usually form the basis for our in-class discussions.

1. Stack concentrates on three aspects of experience among the black community of "The Flats": kin networks, households and residence patterns, and reciprocity. What are her findings about each of these?

2. What is the substance of Stack's critique of the "culture of poverty" argument? What is her counter-argument? Do you find it persuasive? Why or why not?

3. What are gender relations like in The Flats? Think not just in terms of sexual partnerships, but also men and women's relationships to their children, their roles as mothers and fathers, and their relationships to their kin.

4. Examine the interview questions which Stack includes in Appendix B. What do you think would be the advantage or disadvantage of this approach to interviewing?

5. How, according to Harvey and Reed, has Oscar Lewis's culture of poverty idea been misinterpreted? Why do they see the theory as useful and powerful? Do you agree with their arguments?

 

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