After living for a little over a year in da ‘hood in Chicago, I spent some time recently reflecting on the past year. The culture in da ‘hood varies greatly from the culture of everywhere else I’ve ever lived. There are some similarities. From 1000 feet up, most of the overarching values are similar to the values held by white, upper-/middle-class Americans. However, the way these values break down into beliefs, norms and actions is (in most instances) completely different.
In my experience outsiders have a lot of misconceptions about what life in da ‘hood is like. I certainly did going in to it. I’ve decided to do a series of posts exploring how my encounter with hood culture has caused me to critically reexamine my own assumptions and understandings.
Here are the topics I’ve covered:
- An Introduction to Woodlawn
- Language
- Media Portrayal of Gangs & Cops
- Gangs & Cops
- Reactions of White People
- Reactions of Black People
- Why Move to da ‘hood?
If there are other topics you would like to hear about, let me know, and I’ll see what I can do.
