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Gause, C. P. (2008). Integration Matters: Navigating Identity, Culture, and Resistance. New York, NY: Peter Lang Publishing Pp. vii + 207         ISBN 978-1-4331-0202-8

Reviewed by Adria Hoffman
Virginia Commonwealth University

July 17, 2009

There exists a substantial amount of literature concerning educational inequity and the plight of African American students, particularly African American males. However, few scholars have successfully connected critical theory to practice or affected change in public schooling in the United States. C. P. Gause presents this book as a step toward that elusive goal. Gause situates his research in the streets and the classroom among socio-historical accounts of school-prison interactions, hip-hop culture(s), and school segregation. He provides an intriguing account of the influence of broader hegemonic forces on African American male identity construction.

Unlike prior accounts of class and race based inequity, Gause places blame on both broader society and the African American community. He makes the controversial claim that achievement gaps are due to the interactions between the African American community and the broader society in the United States. Examining identity construction as the juncture at which African American males fall behind their peers in terms of educational attainment, Gause makes clearer links between administrative decisions, local educational policy, identity construction, and political change in our educational system.

Gause opens the book with an introduction of dominant, oppressive American culture. He describes this culture as, “primarily white, male, middle class, and heterosexual” (p.2). As Ladson-Billings (1994) points out, culture does matter. “The pedagogical instruction that many teachers of African American students received- from their teacher preparation programs, from their administrators, and from ‘conventional wisdom’ – leads to an intellectual death” (Ladson-Billings, 1994, p. 15). Gause extrapolates, stating that any one who exists “on the margins” of this mainstream, is silenced, image “visible to the dominant culture only when it can be used for production” (p.2).

Divided into eight chapters, the remainder of the book serves as an outline of Gause’s exploration of inequity and identity conflicts. The first chapter is an overview of integration concerns in the post-integration United States, critical pedagogy, cultural studies, and social justice. Gause follows this chapter by zooming in on black masculinity, identity construction, and queer theory as a lens through which we might problematize racialized identity construction. The third chapter is a compelling account of Gause’s fieldwork with African American urban youth conducted outside of schools and classrooms. The fourth chapter connects this work with classroom research, as he analyzes public school educators’ viewpoints on, and experiences with, evolving hip-hop culture. Subsequently, the author presents a chapter summarizing his research on student discipline in a public junior-senior high school.

After an introduction and six chapters outlining what might be considered impossible and daunting feats we all face as educators, Gause presents possibilities for change. Chapter 7 is titled, Collaborative Activism: Keys to Transforming Learning Communities. In this section, Gause makes clear his passion for social justice and compassion for his fellow African Americans working to navigate a complicated school system. He demonstrates care for all students and approaches for all teachers, regardless of race or ethnicity. Gause then concludes book with a chapter on educational leadership and identity. Clarifying the connections between school leadership, education policy, and identity construction, Gause contributes a troubling, yet persuasive case for reexamining African American student school engagement with regard to local and large-scale education policy.

In this text, Gause describes the many school policies, socio-historical issues, and identity conflicts that influence male African American disengagement from school. He posits that school leaders should “understand their own practices and biases as potential barriers to student success” (p. 9). He elaborates, stating that school leaders who reflect critically on their own biases and decision-making make the initial steps toward school transformation necessary for valuing students’ lived experiences and ways of learning. Unlike prior scholarship in minority and urban education, Gause does not entirely fault the hegemonic system nor the African American community for the widening school achievement gaps. Not shying from controversy, he states:

[The] separate but equal doctrine, race, discriminatory hiring practices, and class politics have prevailed; however, I cannot let my brothers off the hook. The African American community, particularly black males must realize that to love, teach, learn, lead, and empower self and other requires critical change. (p. 24)

Gause challenges his community to think critically about the larger influences at work, but also to hold themselves accountable for their actions within the larger society.

Drawing on cultural studies, Black male identity construction, queer theory, and the field of social justice education, Gause critically reflects on Black male role models and the ways in which Black males reconstruct leadership and education for themselves outside of the school system. He examines the ways in which Black males are portrayed in the media both as a “subhuman” group as well as individuals with deficits. He also explores the negative statistics and images continuously reported through television and radio broadcast. Believing that, “we have to give students the tools to negotiate culture, navigate identity, and resist any media they choose not to consume” (p. 66), Gause then shares his findings regarding young Black males’ reconstruction of leadership and education outside of the school walls as they often find themselves pushed emotionally away from school. He describes the common pedagogical practice of labeling:

The negative pathological labels used to identify them as “permanent underclass,” “at-risk,” “culturally deficient,” and “trouble-makers” marginalized and banished them to the borders of the schooling process… As so many other black males in our school became the oil for the school to prison pipeline the black gold of our society used for the further expansion of the industrial prison complex economy that has become such a part of American rural communities. (p. 79)

Gause points out that the streets offered these labeled students daily economic opportunities and immediate successes. School, on the other hand, offered delayed gratification and “perceived injustices” (p. 79). As Oakes and Saunders (2008) point out, “policymakers, educators, and students must believe that, given the right environment, all students can master complex academic and technical concepts” (p. 9). If we can move past an era of tracking and labeling, all of our students will better navigate school and graduate less likely to fall for the immediate gratification of illegal activities.

Located within particular sociohistorical contexts, the construction of young black male identity continues to be more strongly influenced by outside forces than those within schools. Lack of male role models in the African American community as well as the school community plays a part in young adolescents searching for those whom they can respect, according to Gause. He states, “For many, hip-hop may be the only exposure to black American males they witness in their culture; therefore, hip-hop culture could be the international ambassador for African American manhood” (p. 97). Gause then reports findings from research conducted with African American teaches, troubling the idea of a hip-hop culture and messages transmitted through it regarding gender. He questions the implicit ideas and images in modern hip-hop and makes clear differences between modern imagery and previous hip-hop culture.

The images of black manhood as threat and dread not only work to reify dominant white representations of black manhood, but they also stand in a conflicted relationship with definitions and images of masculinity within black culture. This is found most notably in constructions of black masculinity produced by the middle-class wing of the civil rights movement and those produced by gay black men. (p. 136)

Gause believes imagery in hip-hop are complex and worrisome. These representations of black masculinity, according to the author, perpetuate negative stereotypes of black males. Such stereotypes as models create victims who are simultaneously oppressors, subscribing to sexist and racially-charged depictions of self.

In spite of the daunting challenges for the African American community and educators working in this community, Gause suggests some points of entry for affecting positive change. He concludes this book with clear lists of bullet points for teachers, parents, and students. He makes attainable his goals for “practice that requires tenacity, integrity, and courage to change the status quo” (p. 145). Gause respects the fact that there are often personal costs to affecting change, saying, “Critical change occurs with significant self-sacrifice, potential alienation, rejection, and costly consequences” (p. 145). However, given the state of African American males in our schools, Gause makes the reader realize that we should not accept anything else.

Clearly written, this book is approachable by school leaders, teachers, and researchers alike. Although the material contained within the text is well written, there are a few flaws with the text itself. For instance, on page 99 the author references appendices in which he details his research methods. Unfortunately, these appendices did not make it into the final edition. I found myself wanting to know more about the various research projects presented in the middle chapters, but could not locate any details in this book about method or participant selection.

Gause’s text is a well organized, honest account of his own research, personal story, and reflections on his African American male identity. This text is both courageous and important, serving Gause as a means by which he might communicate his passion for change while simultaneously challenging all members of the education community to critically examine interactions between the majority members and “others.” He does not err on the side of caution by pandering to any particular side of the achievement controversy. Rather, Gause takes issue with everyone who participates in educational policy, teaching, and learning. Inviting everyone to take part in the dialogue, Gause challenges all of us, regardless of gender or ethnicity, to bring to light our biases in order to affect positive educational change.

References

Ladson-Billings, G. (1994). The dreamkeepers: Successful teachers of African American children. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.

Oakes, J. & Saunders, M. (2008). Multiple pathways: Promising to prepare all high school students for college, career, and civic participation. In Oakes, J. & Saunders, M. (Eds.). Beyond tracking: Multiple pathways to college, career, and civic participation. (pp. 1-16). Cambridge, MA: Harvard Education Press.

About the Reviewer

Adria Hoffman teaches middle school band students in Henrico County Public Schools, Virginia and holds a Clinical Faculty position at Virginia Commonwealth University. She earned her B.S. in Music Education from the University of Maryland at College Park, her M.Ed. in Social Foundations from the University of Virginia and a Ph.D. in Curriculum and Instruction from the University of Maryland at College Park. Her research interests include questions regarding the intersections of race, class, gender, and early adolescent identity construction.

Copyright is retained by the first or sole author, who grants right of first publication to the Education Review.

Editors: Gene V Glass, Gustavo Fischman, Melissa Cast-Brede

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