In Stigma and Culture, J. Lorand Matory provocatively shows how ethnic identification in the United States-and around the globe-is a competitive and hierarchical process in which populations, especially of historically stigmatized races, seek status and income by dishonoring other stigmatized populations. And there is no better place to see this than among the African American elite in academia, where he explores the emergent ethnic identities of African and Caribbean immigrants and transmigrants, Gullah/Geechees, Louisiana Creoles, and even Native Americans of partly African ancestry....
In Stigma and Culture, J. Lorand Matory provocatively shows how ethnic identification in the United States-and around the globe-is a competitiv...