Thursday, March 27, 2014
What Is the Meaning of "Whiteness" in the United States?
Per our final conversation in class today, please explore the meaning of whiteness as a social construct as you see fit. For those of you who have insight from living in or being from other countries, please feel free to share your understanding of whiteness in other cultures and countries as well.
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When we sit down for a standardized test and come to the part asking about our race, each of us have identifiers that go off in our heads to dictate which bubble to fill in. By the time our race has been inquired about a few times in our life, deciding which bubble to choose is not really a conscious process. We've established what bucket we should be found in by the standardized testing powers that be; black, white, Pacific Islander, Native American, Asian, or other. So what brought us to that conclusive point? How did we reach a [potentially subconscious] decision on who we are? It's more than just a question of the actual color of skin. In fact, a glance at the hand I'm writing with throws off of what might otherwise be my answer to the race question: white. I don't appear white in a photo. But I do and have things that have historically been considered property of the white majority: I often lean towards preppy in my clothing, I go to a high-end boarding school, I can speak eloquently, and I live in a colonial-style home with American/European-style decor. Now, to say that any of these things are actually exclusive to white people would be simply ignorant. It doesn't take much to realize that someone of any race can do or have those things. It also should be obvious that not all white people do or have them. But more often that not, taking stock of those kind of things and identifying ourselves accordingly is what dictates the race you bubble in on the SAT...and what allows some kinds of satire to thrive.
ReplyDeleteThe United States combined so many different people of different backgrounds and skin color that, at this point, "whiteness" isn't really "a thing" (let's just say). In Korea, people would only consider foreigners (non-Asians) either black or white, not in between or neither. Personally, I don't have a specific and organized characteristics of people with "white," "black," "yellow," or "neither" skin. And, I'd rather not have any. I celebrate each individual person's background and race as he/she describes himself/herself into, but I would rather not make the judgment in my head.
ReplyDeleteI have two older sisters. Reagan, like me has fair skin and light green eyes—we used to be mistaken for twins when we were younger. My oldest sister Tinsley is the one my parents say got “all of their Italian ink.” She has Thick brown eyebrows, sweeping long brown hair, eyes that are so dark you cannot designate her pupil from her iris. Tinsley’s most iconic to is her brown skin. It is not a dark, tree bark brown, but more of a milky hot chocolate color. At the ages of five and six, Reagan and I didn’t really care about what it was comparable to, we just cared that is wasn’t white. One day we chased Tinsley around the house telling her she was brown, she was brown, until she ran into my parents bathroom, collapsed on the creamy marble and cried. “I am too white!” she sobbed, “I’m white.”
ReplyDeleteWhen I was five, my olive-skinned biological sister was not white to me because she didn’t have my blue-green eyes, honey colored hair, or pale skin. She was not white simply because her skin was not the color of fresh snow or milk. Now I am eighteen and I would only classify my olive-skinned biological sister as white. It isn’t her Ivy league college degree, the fact that she pales in winter, or knowing that she came from my brown-haired pale skinned parents. She is white because she isn’t black, she isn’t Asian, and she isn’t Mexican.
Ms. Devine asks us to think about what whiteness is, and I think it is simply a way of categorizing that is much too general. If someone asked my what my sister was and gave me two choices: 1) White 2) Olive-skinned. I would pick 2. I think “whiteness” isn’t really about race identification, I think it is people being too lazy to be specific. I guess I was right when I was little, Tinsley isn’t white and never should be called white—she is light brown.
I agree with Channing in that "whiteness" as an identity isn't really about race. The definition of being white changes drastically between countries. As Ilya mentioned in class today, to some European countries, Italians and even the Spanish aren't considered "white." This is different from the United States' point of view, which seems to reserve the term white for Americans and Europeans. But the question of "whiteness" goes even further than these national definitions. Religion also plays a role. Most muslims, no matter how white their skin may appear, are still not considered to be "white." Up until after WWII, Jews were not considered to be "white," despite the color of their skin. I feel as if in the past the term "white" has been restricted to those that satisfy some unsaid checklist and has been only a matter of preference. Recently, this checklist which involves national, ethnic, and religious aspects has been broadened to encompass a larger array of people. Regardless, ones race should not be classified as being white or black or yellow simply because these terms are much to broad and general and tend to change depending on who is doing the classifying.
ReplyDeleteThe summer before this year, I remember a kid from my camp asked me what Asians did during the time of segregation. Were they colored? Were they white? Did they get to sit in the front or the back of the bus? I could answer with definite certainty that Asians were not treated the same as whites. Some decades before, there were Asian-American groups who tried to have Asian-Americans declared as whites in order to escape the racial oppression they faced. As many of us have pointed out, whiteness is a very subjective and arbitrary identity. I would argue that whiteness, as we've said, is not about race; it's about power. The difference between whites and non-whites is the difference between power and powerlessness. The boundary between whites and non-whites change as necessary in order to maintain the power and privilege of "whites." The Irish or the Jews were not considered white because they did not have power; they were marginalized, therefore not white. Without further understanding of history, I obviously can't supply an answer as to why the shift in the definition occurred; I would speculate, however, that the shift occurred in order to differentiate more drastically between whites and non-whites, and therefore further justify racial oppression. Mackinnon says the same about the difference between men and women: "women/men is a distinction not just of difference, but of power and powerlessness." Gender is another social construct whose definition is up for interpretation, often for the benefit of the dominant group. And if gender is a social construct, then sexuality is too, and it has changed definition over the years. In early 20th century, it was possible for men to have sex with other men without being identified, or identifying themselves, as homosexuals. So long as the men acted in a conventionally masculine manner in other aspects, and was not at the end of the receiving end of penetrative sex, they were still seen as "normal men." These definitions change because the social categories, be they race, or gender, or sexuality, or whatever, are not naturally-occuring, or objective, or inherent, despite what we may be taught to believe. They're social constructs, man-made, synthesized by society in order to keep those in power, in power.
ReplyDeleteIn addition to being defined by skin color whiteness is a separate culture in America. Terms such as white girl wasted, oreo, banana all derive from the being consider white. These can be qualities such as "talking white," which is just using proper English. It can also be where you are from. Even if you are a black boy and you live in Greenwich then you are automatically considered an Oreo since Greenwich is known for being a primarily white town. There are other defining characteristics of white culture such as drinking Starbucks, wearing prep clothing, and playing hockey. This can also be used vice versa for other ethnic groups but I won't go into that.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Channing that identifying someone as "white" can be considered simply being lazy. Obviously people can mean many different things by the word "white" or by categorizing someone as such. Is it describing their skin color? Is it their "race"? Is it their ethnicity? Is it their background? Even more complicated than that, are you describing their lifestyle or even their perspective as stereotypically "white"? Inherent with a discussion of race or how we categorize people is the encounter with stereotypes. In being "lazy" with one's categorization of another person, is he or she merely observing that they do not fall into the other possible categories of Asian, African American, Latino/Hispanic, Pacific Islander, Native American, etc.? I'm sure there are some out there that think "white" is the leftover group, the only remaining box option to check off. If you are not any of those other things, are you white?
ReplyDeleteI definitely agree with Luis' 'briefness' and his point that 'white' has many applications. Anyway, throughout my entire life, I've heard the term 'white' used in so many contexts. So much so, in fact, that it's impossible for me to pinpoint just what exactly it means. I can only offer what it means to me. To be white, is to have a subtle skin tone. Yes, there may be times when I question if a person is too dark to be white, but this is the method I was raised to use. There may be many interpretations, but I think that fact speaks to the massive mix of cultures trying to answer that question. 'Whiteness' may be used to define a culture or a religion, but maybe that culture or religion defines 'whiteness.'
ReplyDeleteIn my experience, white is not a color. Whiteness is not a category within the sphere of race/ethnicity. It is a classification of one's socioeconomic status. To be white is to have a high SES.
ReplyDeleteI went to private school from kindergarten to grade 6. I was one of 3 black boys in my grade. We were a special breed, isolated from the culture that existed in the nearby minority-majority public schools. Eventually, I left the private school world and enrolled in a public school right in the heart of Newark, NJ, where only 10% of the population is white. Although I shared the same skin color as my peers, I stood out to everyone. People characterized me as white. I began to learn what color really meant.
It's obvious that white is much more than a color when you view it in context. Black people can talk white. White people can talk black. Trace Adkins is white music. Lil' Jon is black music. Golf is a white sport. In scary movies, when the protagonist in scary movies shouts "hello, is anyone there?" and proceeds to look around the house for the ghost ... that is a very white thing to do. Don't have rhythm? You dance like a white dude. Historically, black people who fit into the "white" category have been called pejorative terms like Uncle Toms and house negroes. "Talking white" has never been a good thing in the black community, yet to say that someone is "talking white" is to say that someone is speaking in eloquent, cogent, cohesive sentences. Also, someone who doesn't have an accent has the privilege of being a part of the American majority. White is a positive adjective.
In my experiences, when people say "white," they typically mean suburban, educated, wealthy, not-about-that-life, naive about the real world, so on and so forth.
That's where I think SES comes into play. All of those adjectives really describe a person who has a high SES. A person of high SES would likely be suburban because they can afford to live in a nice neighborhood; educated because they can afford private education; wealthy because money is the strongest factor of one's socioeconomic status; and naive because a high SES allows a person to be comfortably ignorant. Historically, the color of one's skin was a very strong indicator of SES, but nowadays, people of all colors have the luxury of social mobility.
In comparison, I've found that black means ghetto, urban, uneducated, confrontational, thuggish, exotic, so on and so forth.
In other words, "white" and "black" are really shades of green ($).
As others have described, “whiteness” used colloquially can take on many forms and meanings, and has such an amorphous definition that trying to answer what the term means with a single, concise answer is often difficult to do. Whiteness, taken at face value, can describe merely the color and tone of one’s skin; is that person too tan to be “white,” and therefore must fall into another category that we see in forms and standardized tests? In this sense we sometimes use this notion of whiteness to identify others, and at the same time blur the edges of what it means to be white or otherwise. In turn, we lose the sense of recognizing others’ ancestral origins and tend toward generalizations by sweeping people with a certain skin tone into one category and others into another category. In this way, using the term “white” to describe someone can indeed be considered lazy, as Channing and Leigh mentioned.
ReplyDeleteIt's interesting to see that Leigh would say that white is the leftover group, the group into which you fall when you don't fit into any of the other ethnic or racial groups she mentioned. Personally, I've always seen "white" as being a highly exclusive group. If your skin is past a certain shade, BAM!, you are no longer eligible. Is your hair kinky? BAM! Not white. What about religion? Are you a Muslim? A Hindu? BAM! BAM! Not white, not white, not white at all. And while it's true that it's not always clear what defines someone as white, it is clear that white has a powerful meaning in America. To be white is to be a part of the majority, to be white is to hold a great deal of the country's political, economic, and social influence. To be white is to be part of "normal." If you don't quite get what I mean by that, think about the expression "talking white." If you "talk white," that simply means you speak properly, or even eloquently. It means you follow most of the conventional rules of English grammar. "But," you might say, "that's just talking normally." And there you go. Even though it certainly isn't only white people who have the ability to/do speak like this, the fact that it's associated with them should say a lot. Think too, about Hispanic, black, or Asian advocacy groups or history months. Why would we balk if we heard "white culture pride group," and why is there no "white history month?" It is, quite simply, because, at least in America, white creates culture and whites has written history. Just like you don't need a straight pride parade in order celebrate straight culture (since that really is just regular culture), white is the default, the assumed. And those who were included in that group, the ones who were "normal" were placed at the center of America , with everyone else a little further out, closer to the fringe. And this center was very jealously guarded, as so many groups of people were quickly dismissed as "different" or "other." That's not to say that the very idea of what a white person is hasn't changed over the past few decades. Jews are now, at least in my experience, considered white. So too are Italians and Spaniards. They have been allowed to enter, allowed to become "white." Perhaps as a response to what Ms. Devine referred to as the "Browning of America", other groups that were "close enough" to the time's definition of white were allowed to join up in order to combat the growing tide of "other." That majority had to maintained, after all. It's interesting to note that in Europe, where such a "browning" isn't impending, Italians and Spaniards aren't considered fully white. Perhaps "white" can afford to be more choosy there?
ReplyDelete"Whiteness" as a social force is an indomitable creature, somehow more than its members. In the supermarket, you have "ethnic" foods and then you have everything else, the normal food, you might say. The "white" food, in other words. When people are so often celebrated as the "first African/Asian/Hispanic American to do such and such," like be the CEO of a company or win some award, that says something about what everyone who did it before was. They were just PEOPLE who did it. They had no need of a qualifier. They were white. I guess what I'm trying to say is that "white" is definitely more than a skin color. It's an idea that holds the power of something all too real, a nebulous group whose qualifications are somehow unclear and changing yet uncompromising. Someone who's black will never be white, because "white" doesn't want them to. But who knows what that "black" person will be tomorrow?
And after reading this....I feel like it's a jumbled mess! Sorry!
The meaning of "Whiteness" much like the meaning of "Blackness" has always been clear for me. I understand that there are various shades in between but it's fundamental to state that the two are distinct and are at the two ends of the spectrum. Surprisingly for me, I do not necessarily acknowledge people's color in my day to day interactions. Every one's persona catches me differently. There are belligerent white people and black ones too. I know a few happy white girls and some brown boys too. In short I really think I am blind to color simply because I'm heavy on sentiments. However , the one part in which whiteness grows into something for me is when it comes to girls and relationships. Despite the fluid interaction ,joyous play and intellectual collaboration between black and white people(and all the people in between) it appears to me that there is a certain line that is difficult to cross. And that line divides the field of friendship and the meadows of romance. The whiteness comes really alive when I see a blonde girl with a nice voice who'll do everything with me, say we have the best time ever , I make her happy except start a relationship. They don't say it, because it's a subtle filter they're not in control of. It's how mother nature arranges her Eminems. She keeps the plain ones from the chocolate ones and perhaps on a sweltering day just by accident, the chocolate will smudge the orange ,white? Eminems. I acknowledge that not only is it wrong for me to presume to understand the chemistry of every white girl but perhaps I am even wrong. It is a possibility. Perhaps the line I am talking about is non-existent. But I think that's where I see whiteness , on the line. It's okay if it's just me.
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