Look, A White!: Philosophical Essays on Whiteness

Acknowledgments

acknowledgments ithank micah B. Kleit, executive editor at Temple University press, for his enthusiasm for this project from the start. i truly appreciate his respect for my body of work. i am also grateful to micah for the important work that he does to expand our collective critical imaginations through books. i thank all those at Temple University press and newgen–austin for their professionalism in this book’s publication process. i am greatly indebted to naomi Zack—who has made a tremendous impact on philosophical discussions of race and mixed race and whose work is intellectually expansive, fruitfully interdisciplinary, and philosophically rigorous—for writing the Foreword. i continue to admire her prolific philosophical output . i extend a huge thank-you to the two anonymous readers for Temple University press who read the proposal and a sample chapter. Their feedback was both encouraging and insightful. i also thank steve martinot for his excellent scholarship and his encouragement. i am grateful to those who generously agreed to read parts of the book and offer their feedback: Barbara applebaum, Kathy Glass, Linda Furgerson selzer, Clevis headley, Bill Bywater, Floyd W. hayes iii, and maria del Guadalupe davidson (Lupe). i thank Bill Bywater and Floyd W. hayes iii for creating important critical dialogical spaces at their respective academic institutions where i could share and test my ideas. i thank Barbara applebaum for giving so freely of her time and energy. in response to my request that she read through a few chapters (even as school was beginning), she agreed without hesitation. i greatly appreciate her time, effort, and giving xiv acknowledgments spirit. i also thank Joe r. Feagin, who remains as prolific as ever and who continues to fight the good fight. i am most grateful to Joe for being in my corner. i thank my late colleague and friend John Warren for his important body of work dealing with questions of whiteness, performativity, and pedagogy . We never got a chance to fulfill our plan to meet. i am willing to wait for that opportunity! i also thank those colleagues and scholars who continue to support the work that i do, including James swindal, Fred evans, manomano m. m. mukungurutse, James spady, victor anderson, Janine Jones, and e. Lale demirturk. i owe a special debt of gratitude to the prominent literary figure and philosopher Charles Johnson, who has continuously shown tremendous generosity and friendship toward me. Thanks, Chuck. Chapters 2, 3, and 4 are revised versions of previously published essays. i thank routledge for permission to reprint a revised version of George Yancy, “engaging Whiteness and the practice of Freedom: The Creation of subversive academic spaces,” originally published in maria del Guadalupe davidson and George Yancy, eds., Critical Perspectives on bell hooks (new York: routledge, 2009); the CLR James Journal: A Review of Caribbean Ideas for permission to reprint a revised version of George Yancy, “political and magical realist semiotics in Kamau Brathwaite’s reading of The Tempest,” CLR James Journal 12, no. 1 (2006): 85–108; and the African American Review for permission to reprint a revised version of George Yancy and Tracey ann ryser, “Whiting Up and Blacking Out: White privilege, race, and White Chicks,” African American Review 42, nos. 3–4 (Fall/Winter 2008): 1–16. as none of us works in a vacuum, we must not forget those who help to create the conditions that support our creativity. Toward that end, i thank michelle Bonaventura for making it possible for susan, my amiable consort, and me to have free time to work on projects that we love. i am most grateful to michelle for her love for our boys. i also thank the Yancy boys for their patience this past summer (2011), especially as i consumed so much of it. and to susan, who has read almost everything i have written and who has long been a critic and supporter of my ideas, i offer my eternal gratitude. Look, a White! ...