Construction Sites: Excavating Race, Class, and Gender Among Urban Youth. - book review

Adolescence, Spring, 2003

WEIS, Lois, & FINE, Michelle (Eds.). Construction Sites: Excavating Race, Class, and Gender Among Urban Youth. New York: Teachers College Press, 2000. 336pp. $24.95 (p), $55.00 (h).

There is much talk these days about school and community relations for adolescents, and yet little is known about life at the borders, much less the stories of the youth who sojourn between. This unique collection of essays invites readers to trespass the borders of schooling in order to understand the range of spaces within which youth are forming and reforming identities, relations, and, in some cases, social movements amidst the cloudy backlash to feminism, civil rights, welfare rights, and lesbian/gay movements. The ideas presented remind us that learning takes place both within and outside of schools. Inspirational in content and judicious in scope, this book guides us to pay attention to all the complex settings, aspects, and moments that frame the lives of youth.