Race & Well-being Reviewed in CHOICE
Race and Well-Being
The Lives, Hopes and Activism of African Canadians
This study is the product of the Racism, Violence and Health Project, a five-year research initiative that investigated the impact of racism on the physical, psychological, and spiritual health of African-descended people in three Canadian cities: Halifax, Calgary, and Toronto. The voices of the study’s 900 participants, which include first- and second-generation immigrants from sub-Saharan Africa and the Caribbean, are incorporated whenever possible. Using quantitative and qualitative research, James et al. demonstrate the need for governments and the health care profession, in particular, to recognize racism-institutional, personal, and internalized-as a serious detriment to an individual’s well-being. In spite of the tremendous diversity among African Canadians, which the researchers document effectively, most participants conceptualize racism as violence, regardless of the myriad overt and subverted ways in which they experienced it. This work should inspire greater inquiry into the relationship between health and racism-related stress. Summing Up: Recommended. General and undergraduate collections-M.l. Roman, SUNY Brockport CHOICE, October 2010 48-1182 FC106