| Talking at Trena''s: Everyday Conversations at an African American Tavern Subjects: African Americans -- Race identity; African Americans -- Attitudes; African Americans -- Social life and customs; Middle class -- United States -- Attitudes; Middle class -- United States -- Social life and customs; Social interaction -- United States --; Talking at Trena's is an ethnography conducted in a bar in an African American, middle-class neighborhood on Chicago's southside. May's work focuses on how the mostly black, working- and middle-class patrons of Trena's talk about race, work, class, women, relationships, the media, and life in general. May recognizes tavern talk as a form of social play and symbolic performace within the tavern, as well as an indication of the social problems African Americans confront on a daily basis. May Reuben A. Buford : Reuben A. Buford May is Professor of Sociology at Texas A & M University. He is the author of Talking at Trena's: Everyday Conversations at an African American Tavern (NYU Press, 2001). |