African American Communication: Exploring Identity and Culture: Hecht, Jackson & Ribeau (2003). Book Review

While supportive social ties help to buffer against the consequences of poverty, few researchers have examined how people form such ties. New ties are often formed in routine organizations such as ...

How Do Low-Income People Form Survival Networks? Routine Organizations as Brokers:

Scholarship on race and gender in boxing have examined how meanings of masculinity are produced vis-a-vis a boxer’s identity. This study offers an ethnographic exploration of boxing spectator relat...

‘Undisputed’ racialised masculinities: boxing fandom, identity, and the cultural politics of masculinity

BACKGROUND: In general, men seek psychological help less than women do, and black men are less likely to seek psychological help than white men. It could be that men find wellbeing benefits in other activities. Barbershops have a reputation amongst the black community as enjoyable places to socialize and bond, therefore the aim of this study was to find out whether black men get wellbeing benefits from going to the barbershop.

METHODS: Cross-sectional online survey; 149 white and 53 black participants completed the questionnaires.

RESULTS: Analysis revealed that, controlling for age, black men socialised and talked at the hairstylist significantly more than white men or black or white women (p <.01).

Conclusions: These are the first empirical findings that black men might find wellbeing benefits from a visit to the barber. Implications for health promotion are discussed.

Is having a haircut good for your mental health

English Premier League Football Fandom (hereafter referred to EPLFF) has infiltrated the everyday life of the ordinary people in Eldoret, working its way into the communal and commercial aspects of life here. Studies have shown that this trend is popular in many parts of sub-Saharan Africa as well. In this study we argue that this essentially global cultural form has been affected by the Covid-19 Virus Pandemic in ways that resonate with its social function and that this varies from one locality to another. Using data from a long-term ethnographic study of EPLFF and sociological introspection on lived experience here in Eldoret, the authors revisit the normally active sites of EPLFF-dominant social sites to capture and reflect on the social function of this popular cultural practice that is now changed because of the social impact of the Covid-19 Pandemic.

https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/pdf/10.1080/14660970.2020.1772241

The Covid-19 Pandemic and the social life of English Premier League Football Fandom in Eldoret, Kenya

This ethnographic study explores the social interactions of African American males in an urban, Southeastern barbershop. Barbershops have become frequent research sites for communicating health mes...

http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/pdf/10.1177/0021934716629337

David L. Shabazz

Papers

Barbershops as Cultural Forums for African American Males