THE SELF-TRANSFORMATIONS OF AFRICAN-AMERICAN ACHIEVERS

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.