When society discusses the 'hood,' a number of places are mentioned: South Central L.A.; Compton, California; the Harlem neighbourhood in New York; and even Jane and Finch in Toronto, but where we get our individual notions can come from very different places. For some, their experience is personal, and they think of these places as home. For others, all we know is what we hear through the media or see in pop culture.

These are the ideas being discussed in the upcoming book Habitus of the Hood. Chris Richardson, a Ph.D. candidate at the University of Western Ontario, and his co-editor Hans Skott- Myhre, an Associate Professor at Brock University, put together this book in an effort to examine the 'hood' itself, as well as how it is presented in mainstream media.

The book consists of 14 chapters, each written by different contributors who have had varied experiences and studies on the idea of the 'hood,' emphasizing how diverse experiences with the 'hood' can be.

Contributors include two women who grew up in Compton and became professors at California State University and a man who grew up in what he calls the 'Italian hood' in Toronto. The book also includes a chapter written by Richardson about rappers Tupac and Nas and the idea of habitus, and a chapter written by Skott- Myhre about his experience with moving into a predominantly black community in Minnesota.

Richardson describes habitus as the way people internalize their surroundings — it is the set of social skills and dispositions that are learned through our experiences. Richardson said that, in the book, "It's basically what do we expect people in the 'hood' to be like, why do we do it and how does it affect how they talk to people."

Richardson, originally from Scarborough, Ontario, completed his Bachelor's Degree in Journalism at Ryerson University. He described how, while attending Ryerson, he noticed the difference in how people from areas such as Scarborough or the Jane and Finch area view what happens in their neighbourhoods compared to people who aren't from those areas. "What interests me the most is how journalists react to that, because a lot of journalists (give or take a few anomalies) are not from these 'bad' neighbourhoods, so I don't really like the way 'bad' neighbourhoods get reported," said Richardson.

Richardson completed his Master's degree in Pop Culture at Brock University, with Skott- Myhre as his supervisor. The inspiration behind Habitus of the Hood stems from movies like Boyz n the Hood and Menace II Society, and how pop culture and journalism influence society's concept of the 'hood.' "The reason I wanted to do this book and look at the idea of the 'hood' is because the 'hood' in one way is very much made up and imaginary," said Richardson. "There's a general sense that anyone that thinks or feels in some way that they're from the 'hood' has this sort of shared experience that's very hard to talk about to people outside of it, and so we're trying to start a conversation."

Richardson hopes that this book will not only get people to analyze the stigmas and stereotypes associated with the 'hood,' but also reassess the way pop culture and media represent these ideas.

Habitus of the Hood is set to be released within a month or two, and can be found at amazon.ca.