4 ms·

What if "whiteness" is not a geographical/physical trait but a social construction? What if whiteness varies in the specifics of its processes around the world?

mc32 11y ago
labeling it 'whiteness' muddies things here. This kind of thing arose independently of any culture. But yeah, social mechanism --a cultural shibboleth. Why do so many native english speakers insist _insist_ upon using French phraseology, even when the French phrase is quite cumbersome, if you understand French and there are native english counterparts? The same could be said about abusing buzzwords. Basically, the goal is to mimic the received and expected behavior of where you are. If I were in india, it would behoove me to adopt more local norms in conducting business. Acting white and american, would do white americans a disservice.
rhizome 11y ago
"Whiteness" is absolutely physical/biological, but if you want to talk about characteristics signifying traits associated with power and dominant status, then yes, they are socially constructed. It's just not called "whiteness."
- roywiggins 11y ago
  It is though. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Whiteness_studies https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Whiteness_studies
  - FeepingCreature 11y ago
    > if you want to talk about characteristics signifying traits associated with power and dominant status Whiteness is associated with power and dominant status, but not all categorizations of "characteristics signifying traits associated with power and dominant status" are Whiteness. Whiteness is a subset of CSTAWPADS.
- coldtea 11y ago
  >"Whiteness" is absolutely physical/biological Actually not so much. In late-19th early 20th century, Italian, Greek, Bulgarian, etc immigrants were decidely labeled as "non white" -- to the point of lynching when one of those "non whites" were e.g. found dating a "white girl" (white being mostly WASP).
- detcader 11y ago
  I think "How the Irish Became White" by Noel Ignatiev is a good place to start with respect to engaging on this topic.

mc32 11y ago

labeling it 'whiteness' muddies things here. This kind of thing arose independently of any culture. But yeah, social mechanism --a cultural shibboleth. Why do so many native english speakers insist _insist_ upon using French phraseology, even when the French phrase is quite cumbersome, if you understand French and there are native english counterparts? The same could be said about abusing buzzwords. Basically, the goal is to mimic the received and expected behavior of where you are. If I were in india, it would behoove me to adopt more local norms in conducting business. Acting white and american, would do white americans a disservice.

rhizome 11y ago

"Whiteness" is absolutely physical/biological, but if you want to talk about characteristics signifying traits associated with power and dominant status, then yes, they are socially constructed. It's just not called "whiteness."

roywiggins 11y ago
It is though. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Whiteness_studies https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Whiteness_studies
- FeepingCreature 11y ago
  > if you want to talk about characteristics signifying traits associated with power and dominant status Whiteness is associated with power and dominant status, but not all categorizations of "characteristics signifying traits associated with power and dominant status" are Whiteness. Whiteness is a subset of CSTAWPADS.
coldtea 11y ago
>"Whiteness" is absolutely physical/biological Actually not so much. In late-19th early 20th century, Italian, Greek, Bulgarian, etc immigrants were decidely labeled as "non white" -- to the point of lynching when one of those "non whites" were e.g. found dating a "white girl" (white being mostly WASP).
detcader 11y ago
I think "How the Irish Became White" by Noel Ignatiev is a good place to start with respect to engaging on this topic.