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Urban Studies

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InterLibrary Loan (ILL)
We will borrow it for you from other libraries. Generally, it takes around 3 weeks to arrive.

Reciprocal Borrowing
You may visit other libraries for onsite borrowing via METRO, VALENJ, and Jesuit Library Passport.

New Books

Teach Truth

In the face of relentless attacks on antiracist education, a much-needed reckoning with the roots of this latest wave of censorship and an urgent call to action to defend education. In just the last few years, scores of states have introduced or passed legislation that would require teachers to lie to students about structural racism and other forms of oppression. Books have been cut from curricula and pulled from school library shelves. Teachers have been fired and threatened with discipline. As longtime organizer, writer, and high school teacher Jesse Hagopian argues in Teach Truth, what's at stake is the freedom to tell the truth, the ability of students to understand the world they live in, and the preservation of knowledge systems that expose injustice. 

Bibliotherapy in the Bronx

Discover how a love of books can foster community, understanding, and personal growth. Bibliotherapy in The Bronx by Emely Rumble, LCSW, is a groundbreaking exploration of the healing power of literature in the lives of marginalized communities. Drawing from her personal and professional experiences, Rumble masterfully intertwines storytelling with therapeutic insights to reveal how reading can be a potent tool for self-discovery, emotional transformation, and social change. In this transformative work, Rumble offers readers an intimate glimpse into her journey as a psychotherapist in the Bronx, where she has spent over 14 years using books to help clients navigate complex emotions, heal from trauma, and find their voices. 

Punished

 A former gang member in Oakland,CA, author Victor Rios, managed to escape the bleak outcome of many of his friends and earned a PhD at Berkeley and returned to his hometown to study how inner city young Latino and African American boys develop their sense of self in the midst of crime and intense policing. Punished examines the difficult lives of these young men, who now face punitive policies in their schools, communities, and a world where they are constantly policed and stigmatized. But beyond a fatalistic account of these marginalized young men, Rios finds that the very system that criminalizes them and limits their opportunities, sparks resistance and a raised consciousness that motivates some to transform their lives and become productive citizens. 

Flavor and Soul

In the United States, African American and Italian cultures have been intertwined for more than a hundred years. From as early as nineteenth-century African American opera star Thomas Bowers--"The Colored Mario"--all the way to hip-hop entrepreneur Puff Daddy dubbing himself "the Black Sinatra," the affinity between black and Italian cultures runs deep and wide.  Snoop Dogg deftly tosses off the line "I'm Lucky Luciano 'bout to sing soprano." In Flavor and Soul, John Gennari spotlights this affinity, calling it "the edge"--now smooth, sometimes serrated--between Italian American and African American culture. He argues that the edge is a space of mutual emulation and suspicion, a joyous cultural meeting sometimes darkened by violent collision.