In The Subtlety of the Street (Michigan University Press) Perry Balmat explores how mundane, everyday words matter, and how subtle, almost undetectable, forms of racism creep into everyday conversations between institutional professionals –like teachers and social workers – and those they serve. Findings will be discussed with Robin Isserles, Ph.D. (author of The Costs of Completion: Student Success in Community College and Professor of Sociology at BMCC, CUNY) and Dr. Meredith Doherty, Ph.D., LCSW (Assistant Professor in Social Policy and Practice at the University of Pennsylvania). DJ Mark Lafaro will be spinning rare grooves from around the world during the party portion of the event.

About The Subtlety of the Street

Balmat’s book The Subtlety of the Street shows how street-level workers (e.g. teachers and social workers) construct responsibility through problematic communicative choices in their work with marginalized people. Analyzing constellations of words that together he calls “the Gestalt of Responsibility,” he illustrates how workers construct responsibility in everyday practice, how those constructions change over time due to worker demands and policy constraints, and how they potentially function as racialized microaggressions. The book argues for nuanced professional development that helps workers explore how performance measurements impact how they do their job and the communicative choices they make.

About Perry Balmat

Perry Balmat has a doctorate in International Educational Development (Literacy & Linguistics) from Teachers College, Columbia University and is Professor of Academic Literacy & Linguistics at the City University of New York. He specializes how teachers, social workers, and law enforcement communicate with those they serve. He is a co-editor and co-author of Analysing Social Work Communication: Discourse in Practice, and he teaches Forensic Linguistics, Language in the Helping Professions, Language & Power, Language & Culture, Language, Race & Ethnicity, and Gender & Women’s Studies. His newest research returns to his sociolinguistic and linguistic anthropological roots, as he investigates a dying language variety among circus, carnival, and sideshow people in the United States and the sociocultural and economic shifts that contribute to its loss. Perry is an artist, circus sideshow performer, and snappy dresser. He has also published under "Maureen Matarese."

About Robin Isserles

Robin G. Isserles is Professor of Sociology at the Borough of Manhattan Community College of the City University of New York, where she has been teaching for over 30 years. Robin has spent her career researching pedagogy and classroom teaching, as well as academic interventions designed to support first generation students. Since the publication of her 2021 book, The Costs of Completion: Student Success in Community College (Johns Hopkins University Press), Robin has shared her findings with faculty, staff, students, administrators, and community college leaders across the country. In 2024, Robin co-edited a special issue for Teachers College Record, “Re-imagining the Multiple Missions of the Community College”. Robin’s current research analyzes first year community college student intra-term enrollment patterns, looking at the “credit gap” whereby students enroll in more credits than they earn, to examine the efficacy of “15 to finish” style initiatives. A recipient of the 2024 ASA Distinguished Contributions to Teaching Award from the American Sociological Association, Robin is only the 2nd community college faculty to receive this honor. Throughout her career, Robin has sought to raise the visibility of and respect for those who make their academic home in the community college.

Contact the host of Book Launch: “The Subtlety of the Street” by M. Peregrine Balmat