Whiteness as a Field of Study - 2712 Words

Captain Ahab’s eulogy of whiteness shows that the word â€Å"white† implies more than a chromatic description. â€Å"White† is an untenable perfection that has haunted the American psyche since colonial times. The idea of â€Å"white spiritual superiority† can only be enforced by a terrorist politico-legal system, based on brutalizing the non-whites and creating a national fantasy. A national fantasy defined by Lauren Berlant as the means â€Å"to designate how national culture becomes local through the images, narratives, monuments, and sites that circulate through personal/collective consciousness.† As Captain Ahab disregards all his craft’s safety rules on his mad search of the white whale, the American politico-legal system disregarded its basic†¦show more content†¦It is a very new field with no journals, professional association, or annual conference. Whiteness itself is a historically constructed expression of the full-fledge d member of society or citizen. The parallel and evolving concepts of whiteness and citizenship are analyzed by the first scholars on the field, such as Richard Dyer, Vron Ware, David Roediger, and Ruth Frankenberg. Benefits of Whiteness One of the most important themes on whiteness studies is the benefits of being white, such as the privilege and power associated with being identified as white. In immigration and legal history the main benefit is citizenship. In order to assert ones right to citizenship, it meant proving that one was white. For the Irish, Italians, Jews, and others, becoming white was something that had to be earned. Citizenship gave full political rights, and it was proof of whiteness. Under a strong influence of the main arguments of The Rise and Fall of the White Republic, Roegiger’s book The Wages of Whiteness reveals that whiteness has never benefited all whites equally, but some latter scholars dispute that many whites had no benefits at all. The author’s aim in this text is to explain the role of race in the development of organized labor, and to give whiteness its rightful place in that story. The white workers got a reward for their â€Å"race† loyalty with both finan cial and broader benefits. Their freedomShow MoreRelatedWhiteness and Citizenship971 Words   |  4 PagesCaptain Ahab’s eulogy of whiteness shows that the word â€Å"white† implies more than a chromatic description. â€Å"White† is an untenable perfection that has haunted the American psyche since colonial times. The idea of â€Å"white spiritual superiority† can only be enforce by a terrorist politico-legal system, based on brutalizing the non-whites and creating a national fantasy. A national fantasy defined by Lauren Berlant as the means â€Å"to designate how national culture becomes local through the images, narrativesRead MoreWhiteness Of A Different Color1363 Words   |  6 PagesMatthew Frye Jacobson’s Whiteness of a Different Color offers innovative insight into the concept of â€Å"race† and the evolution of â€Å"whiteness† throughout American history. Jacobson focuses his analysis on the instability of racial identifi cation over time and how race has been created and perceived throughout different stages of history. He states in his introduction that â€Å"one of the tasks before the historian is to discover which racial categories are useful to whom at a given moment, and why† (pRead MoreBeauty Standards For Black Women839 Words   |  4 Pagesviewed as closer to whiteness, and may have actually been closer to whiteness due to enslaved women being raped by White slave owners, and as a result may have been given special privileges such as house duties instead of field duties (Wallace, Townsend, Glasgow, Ojie, 2011). Slaves who worked in the home were not only figuratively closer to whiteness, but physically closer to the White family and had access to books and other items that were off limits to field slaves. A study done a few years agoRead More Toni Morrisons Sula - Black on White Violence Advocated in Sula1059 Words   |  5 Pagesin that coach yonder?...We dont low no mistakes o n this train. Now git your butt on in there. As Nel and her mother progress further south, even the public toilets marked COLORED WOMEN disappear: the women are forced to relieve themselves in a field of high grass on the far side of the track, and Nel eventually learns how to fold leaves expertly. Later in the novel, Sula and Nel are tormented by four white boys in their early teens, sons of some newly arrived Irish people, who occasionallyRead MoreAs I Reflect On The Process Of Writing This Rhetoric Analytic1610 Words   |  7 Pagesthings like changing policies to benefit students or to help teacher development. The two educational research articles Dressed and Groomed for Success in Elementary School Student Appearance and Academic Adjustment, and Critical Race Theory and The Whiteness of Teacher Education are two articles that will be rhetorically analyzed and thoroughly compared throughout this paper. Although these two articles are scholarly and educational, they do differ in conditions like the articles’ context, the overallRead MoreBereavement As A Woman Of Color Strength Essay1550 Words   |  7 Pages Tummala-Narra’s (2007) case study of Lisa I decided to consider bereavement as one of my DSM-5 diagnosis. In consideration to the information provided in Lisa’s case. It is known that bereavement is intense grief and longing for the deceased. This pain is expressed in mental, physical, emotional and social reactions. In particular to Lisa s case she exhibits mental, emotional and social reaction as a result of her parent’s death. In comparison to separation anxiety disorder is the fear of losingRead MoreThe Human Body And The Functions Of It1310 Words   |  6 Pagesof a being that is more acceptable in society. Studying the human body and the functions of it is the study of human anatomy and physiology. Anatomy and physiology are typically important to the study of medicine. But to study medicine, all types of sciences it is a requirement to study multiple types of sciences. On the contrary, to study the different types of sciences does not require the study of anatomy and physiology. Victor Frankenstein was not originally interested in the human frame. InsteadRead MoreThe Black Of Black Is Ugly1529 Words   |  7 Pagesprevalent notion of white or light-skinned superiority. As recorded by Thompson, â€Å"Conceived of a legal or cultural property, whiteness can be seen to provide material and symbolic privilege to whites, those passing as white, and sometimes honorary whites† (Thompson, 2001). By symbolic privilege of whiteness, one means notion of beauty and intelligence identified with whiteness, which in the same time in an implicit way exclude blackness and darkness. Extensive research in the United States has documentedRead MoreWhat Other Variables Contribute And The Composition Of Racist Ideology? Essay1173 Words   |  5 Pagesevery case study, every possible intersectional variable should be integrated to the assessment. Although, my childhood is situated in a completely different country to that of chosen case study, there is a substantial commonality between each environment: spatially isolated, white-dominated, with higher prevalence of racism. Hence, there is a likelihood of the measurements – geographical location, educational attainment, age, and gender -- of the South to be applied to the social field of Mill BayRead MoreHaiku Poem1723 Words   |  7 Pagesmeaning of the world into a simple pattern of poetry, showing an independence of objects and hidden disclosures in small things. Below is a poem of Basho’s economical depiction of a scene the poet saw on his travels, in which a boy was in a field. The situation draws the reader’s attention because the boy does not look at what he is doing, but looks at the moon. Basho notes the boy’s feeling of reluctance in doing his task, which is grinding work, while looking at the moon. a farmer’s child