Ethnographic case studies of three African American student achievers
attending desegregated urban high schools are analyzed in terms of the
ories in the new cultural pluralism in educational anthropology. The a
chievers are described as they sought to transform their ''multiple se
lves'' as Black persons, as women and men, and as members of social cl
asses in transition between the ''multiple worlds'' of their families,
schooling, and peers. They accomplished their self-transformations th
rough the we of contrasting strategies of self-negation, self-fragment
ation, and self-synthesis that were adapted in response to conflicting
cultural expectations. This investigation offers crucial insights int
o the nature and consequences of the identity work of African American
youths in urban educational contexts.