It is my not so humble opinion that this kind of thing is absolutely essential if we are ever to honestly confront the issues of race in this country.
Selma > Hue and Cry on 'Whiteness Studies' > An Academic Field's Take on Race Stirs Interest and Anger > By Darryl Fears > > Washington Post > Friday, June 20, 2003; Page A01 > > AMHERST, Mass. -- Naomi Cairns was among the leaders in the privilege walk, and > she wasn't happy about it. > > The exercise, which recently involved Cairns and her classmates in a course at > the University of Massachusetts, had two simple rules: When the moderator read > a > statement that applied to you, you stepped forward; if it didn't, you stepped > back. After the moderator asked if you were certain you could get a bank loan > whenever you wanted, Cairns thought, "Oh my God, here we go again," and took > yet > another step forward. > > "You looked behind you and became really uncomfortable," said Cairns, a > 24-year-old junior who stood at the front of the classroom with other white > students. Asian and black students she admired were near the back. "We all > started together," she said, "and now were so separated." > > The privilege walk was part of a course in whiteness studies, a > controversial and relatively new academic field that seeks to change how > white people think about race. The field is based on a left-leaning > interpretation of history by scholars who say the concept of race was > created by a rich white European and American elite, and has been used to > deny property, power and status to nonwhite groups for two centuries. > > Advocates of whiteness studies -- most of whom are white liberals who hope > to dismantle notions of race -- believe that white Americans are so > accustomed to being part of a privileged majority they do not see themselves as > part of a race. > > "Historically, it has been common to see whites as a people who don't have a > race, to see racial identity as something others have," said Howard Winant, a > white professor of sociology at the University of California at Santa Barbara > and a strong proponent of whiteness studies. "It's a great advance to start > looking at whiteness as a group." > > Winant said whiteness studies advocates must be careful not to paint white > heritage with a broad brush, or stray from the historical record. > Generalizations, he said, will only demonize whiteness. > > But opponents say whiteness studies has already done that. David Horowitz, a > conservative social critic who is white, said whiteness studies is leftist > philosophy spiraling out of control. "Black studies celebrates blackness, > Chicano studies celebrates Chicanos, women's studies celebrates women, and > white > studies attacks white people as evil," Horowitz said. > > "It's so evil that one author has called for the abolition of whiteness," he > said. "I have read their books, and it's just despicable." > > Whiteness studies, said Matthew Spalding, is "a derogatory name for Western > civilization." Its study is important only to those who think "black studies > and > Chicano studies haven't gone far enough in removing the baggage of > Anglo-European traditions," said Spalding, director of the Center for American > Studies at the Heritage Foundation. > > "The notion that you can get rid of a historical tradition as a way to > further current . . . concerns strikes me as intellectually misleading," > Spalding said. "It makes certain assumptions and looks for certain outcomes. > It's close-minded." > > Whiteness studies can be traced to the writings of black intellectuals such as > W.E.B. DuBois and James Baldwin, but the field did not coalesce until liberal > white scholars embraced it about eight years ago, according to some who helped > shape it. > > Now, despite widespread criticism and what some opponents view as major > flaws in the curriculum, at least 30 institutions -- from Princeton > University to the University of California at Los Angeles -- teach courses > in whiteness studies. > > The courses are emerging at a pivotal time. Scientists have determined that > there is scant genetic distinction between races, and the 2000 Census allowed > residents to define themselves by multiple racial categories for the first > time. > Dozens of books, such as "The Invention of the White Race," "How the Irish > Became White" and "Memoir of a Race Traitor," are standard reading for people > who study whiteness. Recently, the Public Broadcasting System aired a > documentary titled "Race: The Power of an Illusion." > > "If you ask 10 people what is race, you're likely to get 10 different > answers," said Larry Adelman, who conceived, produced and co-directed that > documentary. "How many races would there be? Where did the idea come from?" > > At U-Mass., those questions and others were raised in "The Social > Construction of Whiteness and Women," one of two whiteness studies courses > Cairns took last semester. > Read and Discuss > > The students, about three-quarters of them white, slid into desks and > unloaded giant book bags, which were stuffed with required reading. The > books included Theodore Allen's "The Invention of the White Race: Racial > Oppression and Social Control," which argues, in part, that the collection > of European immigrants into a white race was a political act to control the > country. > > Arlene Avakian, the chairman of the U-Mass. women's studies department, sat on > a > wide desk, let her legs dangle and asked the class to discuss the ideas of > racial privilege, environmental comfort and social control. Not all of her > students had taken part in the privilege walk -- it was conducted in another > course -- but many of them had. > > Winnie Chen, 22, the daughter of Chinese immigrants, said it pained her to > deal with race every day when her white peers seemed to rarely think about > it. She tried to discuss race with a white friend once, she said, but he > felt ambushed. > > "He said I was pulling a Pearl Harbor on him," she said. "It is so difficult > for > them to think there is another lens. He talked about Irish oppression. I asked, > 'Have you ever considered why you're no longer oppressed here when Asians, > blacks and Hispanics still are?' " > > A white student raised her hand and said she and a friend had gone to a hall > reserved for black student affairs, and the friend said she didn't feel > comfortable. > > Brandi-Ann Andrade, a 21-year-old junior who is black, rolled her eyes. "So > what?" she asked. "I never feel comfortable here. I'm a student at a school > where most people are white. The only time I feel comfortable is when I'm at > home." > > Dan Clason-Hook, 24, a white senior, said, "White students would never say > that we own the campus, but [whites] feel they do." > > The desire to always feel comfortable in their skin is something white > people feel entitled to, said Avakian, who is white. The dominant group > wants to control its environment, to own it. > > The students listened without objection, but they don't always. Avakian said > two > students in an earlier semester had challenged her, questioning why she taught > the course. After some discussion, Avakian recalled, they concluded her reason > was white guilt. > > Avakian dismissed that conclusion. "It's the suppressed history I'm > interested in teaching," she said. "White people can't know ourselves and > our country without knowing this history." > > Although whiteness studies teachers adopt different approaches for different > courses, they draw on the same reading of history. > > That reading traces the invention of race to the time and social class of > Thomas Jefferson, who wrote in the late 18th century not only that "all men are > created equal" in the Declaration of Independence, but also this, from his > "Notes on the State of Virginia": > > "I advance it, as a suspicion only, that the blacks, whether originally a > distinct race, or made distinct by time and circumstances, are inferior to > the whites in the endowments both of body and mind." > > >From such sentiments, whiteness studies advocates say, race was invented, > and the idea of white superiority was crucial to justifying slavery and, > later, the dispossession of Native Americans, Hispanics and Asians. > > "Jefferson believed in majority rule, but what majority was he in?" said > historian James O. Horton of George Washington University. "He wasn't in the > majority in terms of gender. He wasn't in the majority in terms of class. The > only majority he was in was race." > > Horton said poor white workers often joined black slaves and freemen in > popular rebellions in the 18th century. For example, he said, Crispus > Attucks, a black man, was among the first to die when an interracial mob > confronted British soldiers in the "Boston Massacre," five years before the > American Revolution started. > > But something happened between that time and Andrew Jackson's presidency in > 1828, Horton said. "Property laws were struck down, allowing white people at > the > bottom of society to vote based on race in 1807. At the same time that was > done, > race laws were put into its place. > > "There is this constant message hammered at poor white people," Horton said. > "You may be poor, you may have miserable lives right now, but . . . the thing > we > want you to focus on is the fact that you are white." > > In the 19th and 20th centuries, "race science" was used by Supreme Court > justices to deny rights, property and citizenship to various Asian > immigrants. > > In the housing boom that followed World War II, black veterans were denied > new federally backed mortgages that helped build white suburbs. > > Avakian said that if American history curriculums "told that story, this > would be a different country." > > "Slavery and genocide coexist with democracy and freedom," she said, and > that's what whiteness studies teaches. "President Andrew Jackson presided > during the mass murder of Indians. If we knew in detail how slavery existed > alongside freedom, we would have to change the national narrative." After Class > > Chen said Avakian's course made her more aware of how the sense of belonging > corresponds to skin color. "I would never not choose to be someone's friend > because they are white, but I think it's important to have friends of color," > she said. > > Jya Plavin, a 20-year-old sophomore who is white, said the course "was > really, really hard . . . both personally and as a white person, because you > really want to take the focus off you and your whiteness." > > Clason-Hook said that the class was the only one he knew of that explicitly > spoke of whiteness, and that it helped him realize that "other classes, like > economics, politics and history, are about whiteness. They are written by and > are about white people." > > He said later that confronting whiteness, day to day, is challenging. "I am > racist. It's not on the surface, but it's in me. Day to day I hear racist > comments, and people don't even know what they're saying." > > Andrade said she thought "the class was beneficial, because it brings to > light that white people, too, are racialized." > > Thinking back on the class discussion a few days later, Andrade wondered: > "In a culture that puts whiteness on top, what is blackness? When you look > at whiteness, blackness is always in the negative." > > Cairns, who had sailed through the privilege walk, said whiteness studies > helped her understand race a little better. "My social group has always been > white," she said. "I've noticed that, and I've started to look beyond my > group." _______________________________________________ Futurework mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://scribe.uwaterloo.ca/mailman/listinfo/futurework
