Whiteness Studies
A look at white privilege and whiteness studies and how they pertain to race relations.
by Kimberly Hohman from the Race Relations Newsletter
(Kimberly is the author of The Colors of Love: The Black Person's Guide to Interracial Relationships. She has been in an interracial marriage for 10 years, and would be considered "biracial." I think that she'd be a great subject & have her email: racerelations.guide@about.com )
The Issue:
White privilege has been defined as a package of benefits, granted to people in our society who have white skin, which allows them certain free passes to certain things in our society that are not easily available to people of color. Things like, but certainly not limited to:
-Being able to turn on the television and see people of their race widely represented.
-Never being asked to speak on behalf of their entire race.
-Being able to succeed without being called a credit to their race.
-Being able to have a bad day without wondering what their race had to do with specific negative incidents.
Being able to have a bad day without wondering what their race had to do with specific negative incidents.
Despite common assumptions, the studies of whiteness are not based in racism or white supremacy. Whiteness studies are scholarly examinations if the issues surrounding white privilege as well as a look into the role whiteness and white culture play in an increasingly multicultural society.
Background & History: According to Roberto Rodriguez, in a publication for Black Issues in Higher Education, the emergence of whiteness studies can be traced back to the late 1980s; specifically to an article by Richard Dyer appearing in Screen, a British film magazine.
Since then, whiteness has been explored in articles, publications and college courses in an effort to learn "how Whites define race, and how they view racism and White privilege" and "how Whites view themselves and others, to how Whites view themselves in relation to people of color, to how they define Whiteness," according to Rodriguez.
Essays on White Privilege:
Peggy McIntosh - "Unpacking the Invisible Knapsack"
Robert Jensen - "White Privilege Shapes the U.S."
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Your Voices
"I'm a 34 year old white male born in a nice middle class home. I may be the most hated stereotype among minorities as I truly do experience 'white privilege' in the business world. I try to put myself in various positions of experiencing life as a minority in America and outside such as trips to India and Korea. I still struggle to experience such feelings. However, while working in previous jobs dedicated to the poor sections of larger cities (Durham, Las Vegas, Charlotte), I have been able to feel that uncomfortable feeling at times when I was viewed rather negatively. Not a good feeling but one that is needed."
Read more of this story and share your own: http://racerelations.about.com/library/blreallife032201c.htm
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Whiteness Studies Courses: These controversial, relatively new courses that are cropping up across the country are aimed at exploring what it means to be white in today's society and how 'whiteness' effects race relations and multiculturalism. According to an NPR All Things Considered report, while scholars are split on the study of white culture or 'whiteness', they do tend to agree that "whiteness conveys privilege so pervasive that it's virtually invisible to its beneficiaries. And this, says scholars, is the 'racial problem' that white people must confront."
The courses are largely taught by white professors lending what some believe is a certain amount of credibility to courses which have been accused of being unscholarly.
Whiteness studies are becoming increasingly accepted as an important party of the total study of ethnicity in today's higher education classrooms.
"I think critical White studies is a very important and critical part of new directions in ethnic studies," said Dr. Evelyn HuDehart, a professor of ethnic studies at the University of Colorado-Boulder.
The following is a sampling of available Whiteness Studies courses:
Critical Perspectives on Whiteness Brown University
The Social Construction of Race The University of Arizona
Critical Whiteness: Gender, Rhetoric and Pedagogy in "Whiteness Studies" The City University of New York
Seminar in Modern Literature: Deconstructing Whiteness The University of Wisconsin - Milwaukee
Whiteness and Racial Difference Swarthmore College
Theorizing Whiteness Purdue University
For further information on white privilege and whiteness studies: http://racerelations.about.com/library/weekly/aa060200a.htm?once=true&
by Kimberly Hohman from the Race Relations Newsletter
(Kimberly is the author of The Colors of Love: The Black Person's Guide to Interracial Relationships. She has been in an interracial marriage for 10 years, and would be considered "biracial." I think that she'd be a great subject & have her email: racerelations.guide@about.com )
The Issue:
White privilege has been defined as a package of benefits, granted to people in our society who have white skin, which allows them certain free passes to certain things in our society that are not easily available to people of color. Things like, but certainly not limited to:
-Being able to turn on the television and see people of their race widely represented.
-Never being asked to speak on behalf of their entire race.
-Being able to succeed without being called a credit to their race.
-Being able to have a bad day without wondering what their race had to do with specific negative incidents.
Being able to have a bad day without wondering what their race had to do with specific negative incidents.
Despite common assumptions, the studies of whiteness are not based in racism or white supremacy. Whiteness studies are scholarly examinations if the issues surrounding white privilege as well as a look into the role whiteness and white culture play in an increasingly multicultural society.
Background & History: According to Roberto Rodriguez, in a publication for Black Issues in Higher Education, the emergence of whiteness studies can be traced back to the late 1980s; specifically to an article by Richard Dyer appearing in Screen, a British film magazine.
Since then, whiteness has been explored in articles, publications and college courses in an effort to learn "how Whites define race, and how they view racism and White privilege" and "how Whites view themselves and others, to how Whites view themselves in relation to people of color, to how they define Whiteness," according to Rodriguez.
Essays on White Privilege:
Peggy McIntosh - "Unpacking the Invisible Knapsack"
Robert Jensen - "White Privilege Shapes the U.S."
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Your Voices
"I'm a 34 year old white male born in a nice middle class home. I may be the most hated stereotype among minorities as I truly do experience 'white privilege' in the business world. I try to put myself in various positions of experiencing life as a minority in America and outside such as trips to India and Korea. I still struggle to experience such feelings. However, while working in previous jobs dedicated to the poor sections of larger cities (Durham, Las Vegas, Charlotte), I have been able to feel that uncomfortable feeling at times when I was viewed rather negatively. Not a good feeling but one that is needed."
Read more of this story and share your own: http://racerelations.about.com/library/blreallife032201c.htm
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Whiteness Studies Courses: These controversial, relatively new courses that are cropping up across the country are aimed at exploring what it means to be white in today's society and how 'whiteness' effects race relations and multiculturalism. According to an NPR All Things Considered report, while scholars are split on the study of white culture or 'whiteness', they do tend to agree that "whiteness conveys privilege so pervasive that it's virtually invisible to its beneficiaries. And this, says scholars, is the 'racial problem' that white people must confront."
The courses are largely taught by white professors lending what some believe is a certain amount of credibility to courses which have been accused of being unscholarly.
Whiteness studies are becoming increasingly accepted as an important party of the total study of ethnicity in today's higher education classrooms.
"I think critical White studies is a very important and critical part of new directions in ethnic studies," said Dr. Evelyn HuDehart, a professor of ethnic studies at the University of Colorado-Boulder.
The following is a sampling of available Whiteness Studies courses:
Critical Perspectives on Whiteness Brown University
The Social Construction of Race The University of Arizona
Critical Whiteness: Gender, Rhetoric and Pedagogy in "Whiteness Studies" The City University of New York
Seminar in Modern Literature: Deconstructing Whiteness The University of Wisconsin - Milwaukee
Whiteness and Racial Difference Swarthmore College
Theorizing Whiteness Purdue University
For further information on white privilege and whiteness studies: http://racerelations.about.com/library/weekly/aa060200a.htm?once=true&
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