This book presents an ethnographic study of a school and community in East Africa. It focuses on the role school plays in the development of the children's identity and relationships to their parents and community, and in the development of the region. At issue here are the competing influences of Western modernity and the cultural traditions of East Africa, including ideas about gender roles, sexuality, identity, and family and communal obligations. The study looks at the practice of female circumcision in the context of school and community teachings about girl's bodies and examines cultural signifiers like music, clothing, and food to discuss tensions in the region. Includes the following chapters: (1) "'What Educated Youth Do These Days': Divergent Views of Secondary Schooling"; (2) "Schooling, Inheritance, and Banana Groves: Signs and Symbols of Local Life"; (3) "'Should We Drink Banana Beer or Coca-Cola?': Redefining the Signs of Traditionalism"; (4) "'Education Is My Husband': Generational Transformations"; (5) "'Boys, Preserve Your Bullets; Girls, Lock Your Boxes': Gendered Messages in Classes and the Curriculum"; (6) "'Things with Socks': Student Life and Popular Culture"; and (7) "'Mountains Never Meet but People Do': Relationships Built through Schooling." Contains chapter notes and an extensive list of references. (BT)