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Mitch Duneier
Most people have common bases of life, and many who are presumed to be quite different have some salient "moral" characteristics in common. My first book, Slim's Table, is an ethnographic study of black men in Chicago who frequent a tavern on the city's south side to discuss questions of honor and place in American society. Their lives testify to the commonalities that link the invisible inner city black working poor and mainstream society. In Sidewalk I try to disentangle what is common and what is distinctive about unhoused black men who are book vendors on the streets of New York, accounting for the distinctions and similarities in light of history, situation, and structure. My ethnographic work focuses on the urban poor in a period of U.S. history characterized by a strong current of ideological and cultural dehumanization of marginalized social groups. In such an era, it is importantto account for difference and to reaffirm elements of commonality in accordance with the highest standards of evidence. To do so rigorously, I find, is both a scientific enterprise and a political project. Visit WebsitePublications Sidewalk, (Farrar Straus and Giroux, 1999)
Mitchell Duneier delves deeply into the lives of poor black men who make their livelihoods on the sidewalks of Greenwich Village selling secondhand goods, panhandling, and scavenging books and magazines. Based on five 5 years of fieldwork spent, Duneier argues that, contrary to the opinion of city officials and the appearance of disorder, the book vendors contribute significantly to the order and well-being of the Village while taking advantage of the opportunity for income, respect and social support. 
Slim’s Table (University of Chicago Press, 1992
This book deals with the lives of older working-class African American men living in the South Side ghettos of Chicago. Author Mitchell Duneier spent four years getting to know a group of older working class African American men living on Chicago’s South Side at Valois, the "see your food" Cafeteria in Hyde Park. Departing sharply from stereotypes of disengagement, Duneier’s cafeteria buddies are employed, mainly single men living in rooms or small apartments, who exhibit tolerance and pride and demonstrate respect and civility toward others. |
