This study explores questions of identity and culture in an urban high school in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It draws on personal observations, conversations with teachers and students, experimental work in drama, use of video, and student writings to show how race and identity are negotiated among the diverse students of a high school that represents a broad range of linguistic, racial, ethnic, and cultural backgrounds. The analysis shows that culture is best understood as an "open text," treated by participants as a repertoire of meanings. The chapters are: (1) "Mapping the Field"; (2) "The Discursive Space of Schooling"; (3) "Portraits of Identity"; (4) "Talk of Race and Identity"; (5) "Gendering Race and Racializing Gender"; and (6) "Toward an Understanding of Elusive Culture." (Contains 210 references.) (SLD)