Schools as Imagined Communities: The Creation of Identity, Meaning, and Conflict in U.S. History

From the nineteenth-century common school movement to contemporary struggles over redistricting neighborhood attendance zones, Americans have sought to build communities around local schools - and sometimes to restrict access to outsiders. This anthology of historical case studies brings together rich narratives on this dynamic and the surrounding contexts of race, class, gender, sexuality, and disability. In particular, the editors' excellent introduction draws meaningful insights from various scholarly fields and taught me how to think about communities with fresh eyes. - -Jack Dougherty, Trinity College Individually and collectively, the essays in this volumeask readers to think deeply, more critically, more thoughtfully, about the unspoken assumptions and the political implications of our common tendency to conceptualize schools as 'communities.' Issues of nostalgia, of inclusion and exclusion, of racial and social and sexual differentiation, are all deftly handled, highlighting new contributions in the history of American education. Well done. - Michael Fultz, Professor, University of Wisconsin-Madison

As a whole, the book offers sociologists several themes to ponder, such as the uneasy relation between ideals of school community and formal equality, the tension between legal initiatives and subjective experiences of belonging, and the meandering path from political battle to institutionalized practice. This Canadian reader was particularly alerted to the tacit influence of the American Civil Rights movement and its legal landmarks, such as Brown v. Board of Education, on contemporary notions of educability and rights that are spreading around the globe. - American Journal of Sociology