All Canadian Universities should be required to offer Whiteness studies
Robert Peffers
focused on the cultural, historical and sociological aspects of people
identified as white, and the social construction of whiteness as an
ideology tied to social status. Pioneers in the field include Ruth
Frankenberg (White Women, Race Matters:
The Social Construction of Whiteness, 1993), author and literary
critic Toni Morrison (Playing in the Dark: Whiteness and the Literary
Imagination, 1992), and historian David Roediger (The Wages of
Whiteness, 1991). By the mid-1990s, numerous works across many
disciplines analyzed whiteness, and whiteness
has since become a topic for academic courses, research and
anthologies.
A central tenet of whiteness studies is a reading of history and its
effects on the present, inspired by postmodernism and historicism, in
which the very concept of race is said to have been socially
constructed in order to justify discrimination against non-whites.
Since the 1800s, critics of the concept of race have questioned if
human races even exist and pointed out that arbitrary categories based
on phenotypical characteristics are chosen, and that the idea of race
is not about important differences within the human species.
Major areas of research include the nature of white identity and of
white privilege, the historical process by which a white racial
identity was created, the relation of culture to white identity, and
possible processes of social change as they affect white identity.
Many scientists have demonstrated that racial theories are based upon
an arbitrary clustering of phenotypical categories and customs, and
can overlook the problem of gradations between categories. A reflexive
understanding of such presumptions also informs work within
the field of whiteness studies.
As of 2004, according to The Washington Post, at least 30 institutions
in the United States including Princeton University, the University of
California at Los Angeles, the University of New Mexico and University
of Massachusetts Amherst offer, or have offered, courses in whiteness
studies. Teaching and research around whiteness often overlap with
research on post-colonial theory and orientalism taking place in the
Arts and Humanities, Sociology, Literature, Communications, Cultural
and Media and Studies faculties and departments, amongst others (e.g.
Kent, Leeds). Also heavily engaged in whiteness studies are
practitioners of anti-racist education, such as Betita Martinez and
the Challenging White Supremacy workshop.
My voice gets heard in large part because I am a white male holds a
professional job with status. In most settings, I speak with the
assumption that people not only will listen, but will take me
seriously. I speak
with the assumption that my motives will not be challenged; I can rely
on the perception of me as a neutral authority, someone whose
observations can be trusted.
Every time I open my mouth, I draw on, and in some ways reinforce, my
privilege, which is in large part tied to race.
Right now, I want to use that privilege to acknowledge the many non-
white people who took the time to tell me about the enduring realities
of racism in Canada. And, I want to talk to the white people who I
think misread my postings and misunderstand what's at stake.
While it is certainly true that white people are sometimes the victims
of racism or racism occurs between different people of color, these
incidents fail in comparison to the number of people of colour who are
victimized by institutionalized white racism; it's not hard to see
where the real problem lays. While it is important to oppose racism
against white people, there is most certainly nothing inherently
wrong
or racist in pointing out the facts of institutional and societal
white racism and white privilege. It is also important to expose and
oppose unearned white male privilege which continues to victimize
women, visible minorities, aboriginals, and people with disabilities.
Racism against white people and racism between different people of
color should always be condemned and denounced. Furthermore, racism
between different white ethnic groups such as anti-Francophone bigotry
and anti-Anglophone bigotry should always be condemned and opposed. As
a White Anglo Saxon Protestant male myself, I am very much aware of
the level of anti-Francophone bigotry which exists in Anglophone
Canada and particularly amongst fellow White Anglo Saxon Protestant
males. However, I am still proud of my ethnicity, culture, and
heritage and I make no apologizes for it.
And I don't feel guilty. Guilt is appropriate when one has wronged
another, when one has something to feel guilty about. In my life I
have felt guilty for racist or sexist things I have said or done, even
when they were done unconsciously. But that is guilt I felt because of
specific acts, not for the color of my skin. Also, focusing on
individual guilt feelings is counterproductive when it leads us to
ponder the issue from a psychological point of view instead of a moral
and political one.
So, I cannot, and indeed should not, feel either guilty or proud about
being white, because it is a state of being I have no control over.
However, as a member of a society--and especially as a privileged
member of society--I have an obligation not simply to enjoy that
privilege that comes with being white but to study and understand it,
and work toward a more just world in which such unearned privilege is
eliminated.
While it is certainly true that white people are sometimes the victims
of racism or racism occurs between different people of color, these
incidents fail in comparison to the number of people of color who are
victimized by institutionalized white racism; it's not hard to see
where the real problem lays.