West Urbania: An ethnographic study of communication practices in inner‐city youth culture

In the inner city community here fictitiously referred to as West Urbania, young African American high school students inhabited a sociocultural realm with a distinct set of values, rules, and practices. Although the young men and women faced discrimination, lack of opportunity, pervasive media stereotyping, and alienation, they treasured self‐expression, using it as a means of resistance and self definition. The oral, written, and nonverbal communication practices of these youth empowered their daily efforts to balance the conflicting pressures of the social worlds of street and school, home, and peers. This ethnographic study of West Urbania youth culture illuminates the use of communication as a strategic tool that, in some contexts, can enable members of nondominant social groups to empower themselves by sharing common values and reframing their identities.