Book Review: Burning dislike: Ethnic violence in schools

• Author: Dahlia Stoddart
• DOI: 10.1177/0734016817744014
• Published date: 01 December 2019
• Date: 01 December 2019
• Subject Matter: Book Reviews

analyzed over many years, though further detail is warranted to provide some background for the

reader. In addition, the book contains some examples of generalizations based primarily on anecdo-

tal evidence, the limitations of which are not thoroughly recognized. Last, it is not clear who the

intended audience of Redefining Rape is, though it seems most appropriate for those with an interest

and background in American history or sociology. Despite the title, the central focus of the book

seems to be a historical analysis of race, gender, and class in America in which changing definitions

of sexual violence provide evidence of the impact of these power relations on social, economic, and

political freedoms. The connections and arguments presented in the book are powerful, though read-

ers seeking an in-depth analysis of sexual violence primarily through a criminological or criminal

justice perspective may find the book more useful as a reference tool.

References

Brownmiller, S. (1975). Against our will: Men, women, and rape. New York: Fawcett Columbine.

Powell, v. Alabama, 287 U.S. 45 (1932)

Sanchez-Jankowski, M. (2016).

Burning dislike: Ethnic violence in schools. Oakland: University of California Press. 290 pp. $27.15, ISBN

9780520289215.

Reviewed by: Dahlia Stoddart, Prairie View A&M University, Prairie View, TX, USA

DOI: 10.1177/0734016817744014

In the book Burning Dislike: Ethnic Violence in Schools, the author, Martin Sanchez-Jankowski,

used systematic direct observation of behavior (before and after an incident) to chronicle firsthand

ethnic violence in high school in California, United States. Sanchez-Jankowski stated that although

ethnic violence within and outside of schools is a fundamental problem, the topic receives little

attention. Ethnic violence in school is an indication that students are not socialization well to tolerate

diversity, and every effort should be made to prevent it. This book chronicles into seven chapter (the

introduction and three main sections, Tinder, Flames, and Embers).

In Chapter I, Sanchez-Jankowski used the metaphor fire and forest fire to help the reader under-

stand the danger of ethnic violence in school and how it spreads once it has started. The ethnic vio-

lence started and spread from built-up tensions and may lead to injury and/or death. Some of the

factors associated with the built-up tension are the economic conditions, the labor market, structural

circumstances, history between interacting groups past conflict, language barriers, and cultural

orientations. Ethnic violence usually dwindled when students lost motivation to continue the conflict

and when law enforcement got involved.

Tinder

In Chapter II, Sanchez-Jankowski used the metaphor kindling to explain the psychological and his-

torical basis of ethnic violence in schools. Some of the psychological conditions necessary to start

ethnic violence involved group identity (determine who were and were not a part of their group),

stereotypic behaviors (based on past relationships) and self-identity (names, physical features, lan-

guage, religion, and group history). Students sense of history influenced ethnic violence. For exam-

ple, students in middle-class school who understood their history from a positive perspective were

542 Criminal Justice Review 44(4)