04-01-2005, 10:29 PM
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->'Whiteness' emerges as study trend
University Wire; 10/3/2002; Joanne Park
University Wire
10-03-2002
(Brown Daily Herald) (U-WIRE) PROVIDENCE, R.I. -- At Brown University and a handful of schools across the nation, courses on "whiteness" are challenging the way scholars think about the study of race.
Professor of Sociology Gordon Morgan at the University of Arkansas is one of a growing number of scholars who have taken a step to define the experience of the majority group in the United States.
Though Morgan initially proposed the idea of a whiteness studies course in 1995, his request was denied. Morgan said he "found a certain amount of resistance to the course from faculty members that feel a little intimidated by the subject matter."
His course, "Special Topics in Whiteness," is now being offered this fall. His students encounter literature from Jeffrey Kaplan's "Encyclopedia of White Power" to Toni Morrison's "Playing in the Dark: Whiteness in the Literary Imagination."
At Brown, Jennifer Roth-Gordon, a research associate at the Center for the Study of Race and Ethnicity, teaches a similar course called "Critical Perspectives on Whiteness."
Morgan said his motivation in teaching the course was to "bring to public understanding to the nature of whiteness.
<b>"This concept did not exist prior to the New World ... so that leaves us to find out how it got started, how it is maintained, and what its future is," he said. </b>
<b>Morgan's view of "whiteness" is based primarily on colonialism. </b>
"Ordinary sociology teaches that epochs can stamp personalities. ... During the colonial period, there was an ascendancy of the dominant colonial personality," he said.
What Morgan terms the "colonial personality" reigned from 1500 to about 1950. "<b>One of colonialism's biggest props was whiteness.</b> People have been freed from colonialism. Therefore, the major props supporting colonialism have been superceded," he said.
Morgan cited the 1954 Brown v. Board of Education decision and the liberation of European colonies in Africa as factors further contributing to the fracturing of whiteness.
<b>He said that with current progress in globalization, it is time for a revised definition of whiteness. "This is not an attack on whiteness ... but an attempt to understand that society does not stand still," he said. </b>
Morgan, who is black, said his course was an exercise to analyze the basis for change, as opposed to an ideological attack.
Morgan said students have responded in positive fashion. The demographic in his course of 24 students is varied, with seven to eight people identifying themselves as white, four to five as mixed race and the remaining students as black.
"Sparks are always flying (in class). There is tension, particularly in the first few days of class," he said.
Morgan said the white students in his class were subdued at first but have come alive recently.
"Now that the class is gelling, the environment is not as hostile. We are getting good discussion, friendships are being made," Morgan said. "Everybody is finding they have to revise what they once viewed as canonical knowledge."
Morgan acknowledged the controversy surrounding the subject matter. "Courses on minority relations or criminology deal with outgrowths of earlier emphasis on whiteness -- so if we construct a good course on whiteness, we could potentially face fewer social science courses on the minority perspective," he said.
Roth-Gordon said whiteness studies are groundbreaking because "white people are taken to be the norm. <b>What whiteness studies do is say that if you really want to understand race, you have to understand what whiteness means as well. When we talk about people of color, that's implicitly comparing them to whiteness." </b>
While she agreed that the Civil Rights movement was a backlash against whiteness, she said the current backlash against Affirmative Action is an indication that whiteness is becoming more pronounced.
Roth-Gordon said her whiteness studies course is not a reaction to the rise of minority perspective courses, but an attempt to critically observe the concept of whiteness and privilege. "Often, by not acknowledging the fact that they have white privilege, they are reinforcing a racial hierarchy," she said.
Jody Green '03 completed his own analysis of whiteness in an independent study last year. Green said whiteness is often undetectable in society. "The U.S. has a lot of rhetoric about racial equality and addresses racism as if it's a tangible thing that can be taken care of ... whereas it's something systemic that infiltrates every institution," Green said. "As a white person, it has been invisible for me where I grew up."
At the conclusion of his study, Green said he better understood "my own whiteness ... especially the implications of (it) when joining in grass-roots campaigns with people of color." Green said his study allowed him to see "just how relevant these issues are to the current debate around TWTP.
"The white people who criticize TWTP seem to do so without a real understanding of their own white self or their white privilege," he said.
"None of (The Herald opinions columnists) ask what the role of white people is in anti-racist campaigns. Such questions can only be asked after there is a consciousness of white self," Green said.
Green echoed Professor Morgan's concerns about the effect of whiteness studies on other ethnic studies courses.
<b>"Whiteness studies have the potential to be good, when used in a proactive way. It becomes problematic when discussions on whiteness become too centered, detracting focus from people of color," </b>he said.
© 2002 Brown Daily Herald via U-WIRE<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->
University Wire; 10/3/2002; Joanne Park
University Wire
10-03-2002
(Brown Daily Herald) (U-WIRE) PROVIDENCE, R.I. -- At Brown University and a handful of schools across the nation, courses on "whiteness" are challenging the way scholars think about the study of race.
Professor of Sociology Gordon Morgan at the University of Arkansas is one of a growing number of scholars who have taken a step to define the experience of the majority group in the United States.
Though Morgan initially proposed the idea of a whiteness studies course in 1995, his request was denied. Morgan said he "found a certain amount of resistance to the course from faculty members that feel a little intimidated by the subject matter."
His course, "Special Topics in Whiteness," is now being offered this fall. His students encounter literature from Jeffrey Kaplan's "Encyclopedia of White Power" to Toni Morrison's "Playing in the Dark: Whiteness in the Literary Imagination."
At Brown, Jennifer Roth-Gordon, a research associate at the Center for the Study of Race and Ethnicity, teaches a similar course called "Critical Perspectives on Whiteness."
Morgan said his motivation in teaching the course was to "bring to public understanding to the nature of whiteness.
<b>"This concept did not exist prior to the New World ... so that leaves us to find out how it got started, how it is maintained, and what its future is," he said. </b>
<b>Morgan's view of "whiteness" is based primarily on colonialism. </b>
"Ordinary sociology teaches that epochs can stamp personalities. ... During the colonial period, there was an ascendancy of the dominant colonial personality," he said.
What Morgan terms the "colonial personality" reigned from 1500 to about 1950. "<b>One of colonialism's biggest props was whiteness.</b> People have been freed from colonialism. Therefore, the major props supporting colonialism have been superceded," he said.
Morgan cited the 1954 Brown v. Board of Education decision and the liberation of European colonies in Africa as factors further contributing to the fracturing of whiteness.
<b>He said that with current progress in globalization, it is time for a revised definition of whiteness. "This is not an attack on whiteness ... but an attempt to understand that society does not stand still," he said. </b>
Morgan, who is black, said his course was an exercise to analyze the basis for change, as opposed to an ideological attack.
Morgan said students have responded in positive fashion. The demographic in his course of 24 students is varied, with seven to eight people identifying themselves as white, four to five as mixed race and the remaining students as black.
"Sparks are always flying (in class). There is tension, particularly in the first few days of class," he said.
Morgan said the white students in his class were subdued at first but have come alive recently.
"Now that the class is gelling, the environment is not as hostile. We are getting good discussion, friendships are being made," Morgan said. "Everybody is finding they have to revise what they once viewed as canonical knowledge."
Morgan acknowledged the controversy surrounding the subject matter. "Courses on minority relations or criminology deal with outgrowths of earlier emphasis on whiteness -- so if we construct a good course on whiteness, we could potentially face fewer social science courses on the minority perspective," he said.
Roth-Gordon said whiteness studies are groundbreaking because "white people are taken to be the norm. <b>What whiteness studies do is say that if you really want to understand race, you have to understand what whiteness means as well. When we talk about people of color, that's implicitly comparing them to whiteness." </b>
While she agreed that the Civil Rights movement was a backlash against whiteness, she said the current backlash against Affirmative Action is an indication that whiteness is becoming more pronounced.
Roth-Gordon said her whiteness studies course is not a reaction to the rise of minority perspective courses, but an attempt to critically observe the concept of whiteness and privilege. "Often, by not acknowledging the fact that they have white privilege, they are reinforcing a racial hierarchy," she said.
Jody Green '03 completed his own analysis of whiteness in an independent study last year. Green said whiteness is often undetectable in society. "The U.S. has a lot of rhetoric about racial equality and addresses racism as if it's a tangible thing that can be taken care of ... whereas it's something systemic that infiltrates every institution," Green said. "As a white person, it has been invisible for me where I grew up."
At the conclusion of his study, Green said he better understood "my own whiteness ... especially the implications of (it) when joining in grass-roots campaigns with people of color." Green said his study allowed him to see "just how relevant these issues are to the current debate around TWTP.
"The white people who criticize TWTP seem to do so without a real understanding of their own white self or their white privilege," he said.
"None of (The Herald opinions columnists) ask what the role of white people is in anti-racist campaigns. Such questions can only be asked after there is a consciousness of white self," Green said.
Green echoed Professor Morgan's concerns about the effect of whiteness studies on other ethnic studies courses.
<b>"Whiteness studies have the potential to be good, when used in a proactive way. It becomes problematic when discussions on whiteness become too centered, detracting focus from people of color," </b>he said.
© 2002 Brown Daily Herald via U-WIRE<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->