Anti-Racist Work with Young People: European Experiences and Approaches Anna Aliffi-Pentini and Walter Lorenz (Eds) Russell House Publishing; 1996; pp 208; £14.95 pbk
| Author | Andrew Wade |
| Published date | 01 December 1996 |
| Date | 01 December 1996 |
| DOI | http://doi.org/10.1177/026455059604300418 |
| Subject Matter | Articles |
228
examining
what
they
make
of
the
evidence
and
what
they’d
do
to
address
the
problems
that
some
men
face.
As
probation
staff
we
may
also
be
in
the
enviable
position
of
being
able
to
do
something
about
it.
Stephen
Hornby
Probation
Officer,
Cambridgeshire
Anti-Racist
Work
with
Young
People:
European
Experiences
and
Approaches
Anna
Aliffi-Pentini
and
Walter
Lorenz
(Eds)
Russell
House
Publishing;
1996;
pp
208;
£14.95
pbk
This
book
has
its
origin
in
a
European
project
commissioned
by
the
PETRA
Youth
for
Europe
Project
and
carried
out
by
the
European
Centre
for
Community
Education.
The
original
aim
was
to
design
a
training
module
to
promote
anti-
racist
competencies
in
young
people
who
want
to
engage
in
European
youth
exchanges.
Clearly
the
scope
and
aims
of
the
project
broadened.
The
result,
however,
is
a
work
that
has
limitations
on
applicability
in
probation
contexts.
Fortunately
the
format
allows
discerning
readers
to
pick
and
choose
the
most
relevant
chapters.
There
are
important
debates
to
revisit
and
useful
lessons
to
be
learned
but
some
contributions
left
me
struggling
for
basic
terms
of
reference
and
the
text
at
times
was
dense
and
unrewarding.
The
liberal
use
of
words
such
as
’conscientisation’
and
over
long
sentences
that
included
phrases
such
as
’...the
complimentarity
of
inter-cultural
and
anti-racist
pedagogical
approaches...’
did
not
always
create
a
reader
friendly
experience!
Chapter
four
highlights
the
function
of
language
in
promoting
racism
and
indirectly
revisits
the
debate
on
’political
correctness.’
The
editor
draws
attention
to
the
dangers
of
stifling
debate
when
racism
is
constantly
moving
and
evolving
and
is
largely
immune
to
blunt
measures.
The
chapter’s
analysis,
however,
skilfully
points
to
the
political
momentum
that
a
more
conscious
use
of
language
can
generate.
The
excellent
fifth
chapter
takes
this
debate
further
in
discussing
practical
examples.
It
warns
that
legitimate
concerns
over
political
correctness
can
easily
translate
into
denials
about
the
structural
basis
of
racism.
I
found
the
book
to
be
at
its
best
when
practical
experiences
were
being
shared.
Chapters
five
to
eight
contain
case
studies
of
anti-racist
youth
work
in
Britain,
Germany
and
the
Netherlands.
The
central
theme
is
that
young
people
must
be
helped
to
develop
their
own
responses
through
exploring
their
own
versions
of
identity.
I
was
pleased
to
see
some
of
my
own
feelings
about
working
with
young
people
at
risk
of
racially
motivated
offending
validated
in
the
experiences
of
others
across
Europe.
All
three
chapters
emphasise
that
both
black
and
white
young
people
must
be
given
a
positive
startling
point -
reinforcing
their
own
experiences,
working
with
first
hand
encounters
and
conflict,
using
examples
located
in
their
lives
and
building
up
a
repertoire
of
social
skills.
Chapter
eight
is
particularly
useful
in
outlining
two
separate
models
of
the
stages
of
black
identity
formation
and
of
white
identity
formation.
The
models
may
well
provoke
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