Overview
Bringing together essays from the controversial Berkeley conference of the same name, The Making and Unmaking of Whiteness presents a fascinating range of inquiry into the nature of whiteness as an identity crosscut by race. Representing academics, independent scholars, community organisers, and anti-racist activists, the contributors are all leaders in the ""second wave"" of whiteness studies who collectively aim to combat the historical legacies of white supremacy and to inform those who seek to understand the changing nature of white identity, both in the United States and abroad. With essays devoted to theories of racial domination, comparative global racisms, trans-national white identity, and post-apartheid South Africa, the geographical reach of the volume is significant and broad. Dalton Conley writes on ""How I Learned to Be White."" Alan Berube discusses the intersection of gay identity and whiteness, and Mab Segrest describes the terrible spiritual price white people pay for living in a system of white supremacy. Other pieces examine the utility of whiteness as a critical term for social analysis, contextualise different attempts at antiracist activism, and explore how whiteness affects those seen as racially privileged. In a razor sharp introduction, the editors not only raise provocative questions about the intellectual, social, and political goals of those interested in the study of whiteness but hone in on several of the topic's major recurrent themes: the visibility (or lack thereof) of whiteness; the ""emptiness"" of whiteness as a category of identification; and conceptions of whiteness as a structural privilege, a harbinger of violence, or an institutionalisation of European imperialism. Contributors. William Aal, Allan Berube, Brigit Brander Rasmussen, Dalton Conley, Troy Duster, Ruth Frankenberg, John Hartigan Jr., Eric Klinenberg, Eric Lott, Irene J. Nexica, Michael Omi, Jasbir Kaur Puar, Mab Segrest, Vron Ware, Howard Winant, Matt Wray
Full Product Details
Author: Birgit Brander Rasmussen ,
Eric Klinenberg ,
Irene J. Nexica ,
Matt Wray
Publisher: Duke University Press
Imprint: Duke University Press
Dimensions:
Width: 14.60cm
, Height: 2.50cm
, Length: 23.50cm
Weight: 0.544kg
ISBN: 9780822327400
ISBN 10: 0822327406
Pages: 277
Publication Date: 07 September 2001
Audience:
Professional and scholarly
,
Professional & Vocational
Format: Paperback
Publisher's Status: Active
Availability: In Print
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Reviews
If for no other reason than that the circulation of racialized power has been and is fractured, multi-faceted, contradictory, and continual, then this collection would be valuable in its attention to the accumulation of the political and disciplinary effects of whiteness. The particular strength of this attention is magnified by the combination of work herein that originates in both academic and other than academic sites. And it is brave work; it proceeds without guarantees of its own outcome, without knowing what questions it might settle. -Wahneema Lubiano, Duke University This very powerful volume touches many nerves in contemporary cultural politics. Its collected essays take various perspectives and collectively-and sometimes individually-engage various contradictions. It's a disturbing, engaging, sometimes frustrating, deeply affecting book. -Kathleen Stewart, author of A Space on the Side of the Road: Cultural Poetics in an Other America
""Thoughtful, astute and representing a wide range of perspectives, the contributors explore pressing questions of this emerging discipline.""--Publishers Weekly ""This very powerful volume touches many nerves in contemporary cultural politics. Its collected essays take various perspectives and collectively-and sometimes individually-engage various contradictions. It's a disturbing, engaging, sometimes frustrating, deeply affecting book."" - Kathleen Stewart, author of A Space on the Side of the Road: Cultural Poetics in an ""Other"" America ""If for no other reason than that the circulation of racialised power has been and is fractured, multi-faceted, contradictory, and continual, then this collection would be valuable in its attention to the accumulation of the political and disciplinary effects of whiteness. The particular strength of this attention is magnified by the combination of work herein that originates in both academic and other than academic sites. And it is brave work; it proceeds without guarantees of its own outcome, without knowing what questions it might settle."" - Wahneema Lubiano, Duke University
Thoughtful, astute and representing a wide range of perspectives, the contributors explore pressing questions of this emerging discipline. - Publishers Weekly This very powerful volume touches many nerves in contemporary cultural politics. Its collected essays take various perspectives and collectively-and sometimes individually-engage various contradictions. It's a disturbing, engaging, sometimes frustrating, deeply affecting book. - Kathleen Stewart, author of A Space on the Side of the Road: Cultural Poetics in an Other America If for no other reason than that the circulation of racialised power has been and is fractured, multi-faceted, contradictory, and continual, then this collection would be valuable in its attention to the accumulation of the political and disciplinary effects of whiteness. The particular strength of this attention is magnified by the combination of work herein that originates in both academic and other than academic sites. And it is brave work; it proceeds without guarantees of its own outcome, without knowing what questions it might settle. - Wahneema Lubiano, Duke University
"""Thoughtful, astute and representing a wide range of perspectives, the contributors explore pressing questions of this emerging discipline.""--Publishers Weekly ""This very powerful volume touches many nerves in contemporary cultural politics. Its collected essays take various perspectives and collectively-and sometimes individually-engage various contradictions. It's a disturbing, engaging, sometimes frustrating, deeply affecting book."" - Kathleen Stewart, author of A Space on the Side of the Road: Cultural Poetics in an ""Other"" America ""If for no other reason than that the circulation of racialised power has been and is fractured, multi-faceted, contradictory, and continual, then this collection would be valuable in its attention to the accumulation of the political and disciplinary effects of whiteness. The particular strength of this attention is magnified by the combination of work herein that originates in both academic and other than academic sites. And it is brave work; it proceeds without guarantees of its own outcome, without knowing what questions it might settle."" - Wahneema Lubiano, Duke University"
Author Information
Birgit Brander Rasmussen is Assistant Professor of American Studies and Ethnicity, Race and Migration at Yale University. She is the co-editor of The Making and Unmaking of Whiteness (Duke, 2001). Eric Klinenberg is Assistant Professor of Sociology at Northwestern University. Irene J. Nexica is an independent scholar who studies popular music and culture. Matt Wray is Assistant Professor of Sociology at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas.
