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Joy and Pain

A Story of Black Life and Liberation in Five Albums
Book Hero Magic crafted this summary to help describe this book. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! Summary
Joy and Pain offers a poignant exploration of how the carceral state influences daily life for young Black people, focusing on the story of Marley, a young man encountered at the Southern California Library. Through Marley's experiences with housing, education, health care, social services, and juvenile detention, Damien M. Sojoyner reveals the precarity faced by Black Americans. Yet, the book also highlights the resilience and social visions of radical freedom that nurture joy beyond oppression. Structured as a collection of five "albums," it combines ethnographic narrative with anthropological and archival insights to imagine broader futures.
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Format: Paperback / softback
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Book Hero Magic created this recommendation. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! IS THIS YOUR NEXT READ?

This book is ideal for readers interested in contemporary Black experiences, social justice, ethnography, and activism. It will especially appeal to those keen on understanding the intersections of race, incarceration, and community resilience within urban America.

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Book Hero Magic formatted this description to make it easier to read. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! Description

A poignant account of how the carceral state shapes daily life for young Black people—and how Black Americans resist, find joy, and cultivate new visions for the future.

At the Southern California Library—a community organisation and an archive of radical and progressive movements—the author meets a young man, Marley. In telling Marley’s story, Damien M. Sojoyner depicts the overwhelming nature of Black precarity in the twenty‑first century through the lenses of housing, education, health care, social services, and juvenile detention. But Black life is not defined by precarity; it embraces social visions of radical freedom that allow the pursuit of a life of joy beyond systems of oppression.

Structured as a “record collection” of five “albums,” this innovative book relates Marley’s personal encounters with everyday aspects of the carceral state through an ethnographic A side and offers deeper context through an anthropological and archival B side. In Joy and Pain, Marley’s experiences at the intersection of history and the contemporary political moment invite us to imagine more expansive futures.

Book Hero Magic summarised reviews for this book. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! HOW HAS THIS BEEN REVIEWED?

Publishers Weekly praises the engaging discussions of Black musicians and activist groups, noting it as an insightful portrait of the struggle for justice. CHOICE calls it a gripping, intimate ethnography centred on Marley that vividly conveys the precariousness of Black life under the carceral state and highly recommends it. The Journal of African American History highlights the book's narrative storytelling, historical detail, and tribute to a community library as threads of hope in a system of destruction.

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Book Details

INFORMATION

ISBN: 9780520390423

Publisher: University of California Press

Format: Paperback / softback

Date Published: 01 November 2022

Country: United States

Imprint: University of California Press

Illustration: 6 b-w illustrations

Audience: Professional and scholarly

DIMENSIONS

Spine width: 18.0mm

Width: 152.0mm

Height: 229.0mm

Weight: 318g

Pages: 248

About the Author

Damien M. Sojoyner is Associate Professor of Anthropology at the University of California, Irvine. He is the author of First Strike: Educational Enclosures in Black Los Angeles.

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