In this Book
- Critical White Studies: Looking Behind the Mirror
- Book
- 2010
- Published by: Temple University Press
summary
No longer content with accepting whiteness as the norm, critical scholars have turned their attention to whiteness itself. In Critical White Studies: Looking Behind the Mirror, numerous thinkers, including Toni Morrison, Eric Foner, Peggy McIntosh, Andrew Hacker, Ruth Frankenberg, John Howard Griffin, David Roediger, Kathleen Heal Cleaver, Noel Ignatiev, Cherrie Moraga, and Reginald Horsman, attack such questions as:
*How was whiteness invented, and why?
*How has the category whiteness changed over time?
*Why did some immigrant groups, such as the Irish and Jews, start out as nonwhite and later became white?
*Can some individual people be both white and nonwhite at different times, and what does it mean to "pass for white"?
*At what point does pride in being white cross the line into white power or white supremacy?
*What can whites concerned over racial inequity or white privilege do about it?
Science and pseudoscience are presented side by side to demonstrate how our views on whiteness often reflect preconception, not fact. For example, most scientists hold that race is not a valid scientific category -- genetic differences between races are insignificant compared to those within them. Yet, the "one drop" rule, whereby those with any nonwhite heritage are classified as nonwhite, persists even today. As the bell curve controversy shows, race concepts die hard, especially when power and prestige lie behind them.
A sweeping portrait of the emerging field of whiteness studies, Critical White Studies presents, for the first time, the best work from sociology, law, history, cultural studies, and literature. Delgado and Stefancic expressly offer critical white studies as the next step in critical race theory. In focusing on whiteness, not only do they ask nonwhites to investigate more closely for what it means for others to be white, but also they invite whites to examine themselves more searchingly and to "look behind the mirror."
*How was whiteness invented, and why?
*How has the category whiteness changed over time?
*Why did some immigrant groups, such as the Irish and Jews, start out as nonwhite and later became white?
*Can some individual people be both white and nonwhite at different times, and what does it mean to "pass for white"?
*At what point does pride in being white cross the line into white power or white supremacy?
*What can whites concerned over racial inequity or white privilege do about it?
Science and pseudoscience are presented side by side to demonstrate how our views on whiteness often reflect preconception, not fact. For example, most scientists hold that race is not a valid scientific category -- genetic differences between races are insignificant compared to those within them. Yet, the "one drop" rule, whereby those with any nonwhite heritage are classified as nonwhite, persists even today. As the bell curve controversy shows, race concepts die hard, especially when power and prestige lie behind them.
A sweeping portrait of the emerging field of whiteness studies, Critical White Studies presents, for the first time, the best work from sociology, law, history, cultural studies, and literature. Delgado and Stefancic expressly offer critical white studies as the next step in critical race theory. In focusing on whiteness, not only do they ask nonwhites to investigate more closely for what it means for others to be white, but also they invite whites to examine themselves more searchingly and to "look behind the mirror."
Table of Contents
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- Title Page, Copyright
- pp. i-vi
- Acknowledgments
- p. xv
- Introduction
- pp. xvii-xviii
- 3 The Skin We're In
- pp. 12-15
- 4 The Way of the WASP
- pp. 16-23
- 5 Hiring Quotas for White Males Only
- pp. 24-26
- 6 Innocence and Affirmative Action
- pp. 27-32
- 8 Growing Up White in America?
- pp. 34-35
- 9 Growing Up (What) in America?
- pp. 36-37
- Suggested Readings
- p. 47
- 12 Ignoble Savages
- pp. 55-65
- 16 The Rhetorical Tapestry of Race
- pp. 89-97
- 17 Imposition
- pp. 98-105
- 19 The Tower of Babel
- pp. 112-116
- Synopses of Other Important Works
- pp. 133-134
- From the Editors: Issues and Comments
- pp. 134-135
- Suggested Readings
- p. 135
- PART III: Whiteness: History's Role
- pp. 137-138
- 26 The Antidemocratic Power of Whiteness
- pp. 157-163
- 27 Who's Black, Who's White, and Who Cares
- pp. 164-169
- 30 The Genetic Tie
- pp. 186-189
- Synopses of Other Important Works
- pp. 190-191
- Suggested Readings
- p. 192
- PART IV: Whiteness: Law's Role
- pp. 193-194
- 33 Mexican-Americans and Whiteness
- pp. 210-213
- 38 The Constitutional Ghetto
- pp. 239-247
- Suggested Readings
- p. 249
- PART V: Whiteness: Culture's Role
- pp. 251-252
- 39 Do You Know This Man?
- pp. 253-254
- 40 The Curse of Ham
- pp. 255-257
- 42 White Innocence, Black Abstraction
- pp. 263-266
- Synopses of Other Important Works
- pp. 285-288
- Suggested Readings
- p. 288
- PART VI: White Privilege
- pp. 289-290
- 50 The GI Bill: Whites Only Need Apply
- pp. 310-313
- 51 Making Systems of Privilege Visible
- pp. 314-319
- 52 Race and Racial Classifications
- pp. 320-322
- 55 The Social Construction of Whiteness
- pp. 330-333
- Suggested Readings
- p. 335
- PART VII: The Ladder of Whiteness
- pp. 337-338
- 56 The Mind of the South
- pp. 339-347
- 59 Life on the Color Line
- pp. 357-359
- 61 Beyond the Melting Pot
- pp. 368-377
- 63 Useful Knowledge
- pp. 381-386
- 64 Stupid Rich Bastards
- pp. 387-394
- 65 How Did Jews Become White Folks?
- pp. 395-401
- 66 How White People Became White
- pp. 402-406
- Suggested Readings
- p. 421
- 69 Passing for White, Passing for Black
- pp. 425-431
- 70 Black Like Me
- pp. 432-437
- 73 Learning How to Be Niggers
- pp. 458-466
- 75 La Güera
- pp. 471-474
- 76 Notes of a White Black Woman
- pp. 475-481
- 78 A Review of Life on the Color Line
- pp. 493-498
- 79 What Is Race, Anyway?
- pp. 499-500
- Synopses of Other Important Works
- pp. 501-502
- Suggested Readings
- pp. 503-504
- PART IX: Biology and Pseudoscience
- pp. 505-506
- 81 Caste, Crime, and Precocity
- pp. 510-511
- 84 Brave New Right
- pp. 519-522
- 85 Race and Parentage
- pp. 523-527
- 86 The Sources of The Bell Curve
- pp. 528-529
- 87 Hearts of Darkness
- pp. 530-533
- 89 Dangerous Undertones of the New Nativism
- pp. 538-541
- Suggested Readings
- pp. 543-544
- PART X: White Consciousness, White Power
- pp. 545-546
- 91 The Changing Faces of White Supremacy
- pp. 552-557
- 92 Hatelines: Week of Sunday, April 7, 1996
- pp. 558-560
- 93 Blue by Day and White by [K]night
- pp. 561-565
- 94 The Race Question and Its Solution
- pp. 566-572
- 95 The American Neo-Nazi Movement Today
- pp. 573-585
- Synopses of Other Important Works
- pp. 601-603
- Suggested Readings
- p. 604
- 109 What Should White Women Do?
- pp. 642-643
- 110 Confronting Racelessness
- pp. 644-645
- 112 What We Believe
- p. 653
- 114 White Out
- pp. 658-663
- Suggested Readings
- p. 664
- About the Contributors
- pp. 665-670
Additional Information
ISBN
9781439901519
Related ISBN(s)
9781566395311, 9781566395328
MARC Record
OCLC
966821611
Pages
704
Launched on MUSE
2017-01-01
Language
English
Open Access
No