White Talk, Black Talk

This book studies the relations between black and white adolescents in an urban environment (South London); the processes by which racism is relayed within adolescent communities, and the strategies which subvert or encourage them. More specifically Hewitt examines the sociolinguistic impact of the 'London Jamaican' creole used by young black Londoners on the language and culture of young whites. Basing his work on extensive fieldwork amongst racially mixed groups in youth clubs, schools and 'street corner' contexts. Hewitt is able to examine the way racial attitudes and cultural allegiances are expressed in, and affected by, inter-racial friendships. White Talk Black Talk is a uniquely ethnographic account which places the use of black language forms in the speech of whites firmly in its social and political setting: integrating disciplines in a creative way, Hewitt sites a practical sociolinguistic study within a much wider and systematic sociological context of group interaction. This study will be of special interest within sociolinguistics, the sociology of race relations and of youth culture, and urban anthropology, but its rich and fascinating ethnographic detail will also make it of interest to the non-specialist.