White Noise: Bringing Language Into Whiteness Studies
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Questioning Whiteness: “Who Is White?”
人間生活文化研究 Int J Hum Cult Stud. No. 29 2019 Questioning Whiteness: “Who is white?” ―A case study of Barbados and Trinidad― Michiru Ito1 1International Center, Otsuma Women’s University 12 Sanban-cho, Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo, Japan 102-8357 Key words:Whiteness, Caribbean, Barbados, Trinidad, Oral history Abstract This paper seeks to produce knowledge of identity as European-descended white in the Caribbean islands of Barbados and Trinidad, where the white populations account for 2.7% and 0.7% respectively, of the total population. Face-to-face individual interviews were conducted with 29 participants who are subjectively and objectively white, in August 2016 and February 2017 in order to obtain primary data, as a means of creating oral history. Many of the whites in Barbados recognise their interracial family background, and possess no reluctance for having interracial marriage and interracial children. They have very weak attachment to white hegemony. On contrary, white Trinidadians insist on their racial purity as white and show their disagreement towards interracial marriage and interracial children. The younger generations in both islands say white supremacy does not work anymore, yet admit they take advantage of whiteness in everyday life. The elder generation in Barbados say being white is somewhat disadvantageous, but their Trinidadian counterparts are very proud of being white which is superior form of racial identity. The paper revealed the sense of colonial superiority is rooted in the minds of whites in Barbados and Trinidad, yet the younger generations in both islands tend to deny the existence of white privilege and racism in order to assimilate into the majority of the society, which is non-white. -
Natural Causes of Language Frames, Biases, and Cultural Transmission
Natural causes of language Frames, biases, and cultural transmission N. J. Enfield language Conceptual Foundations of science press Language Science 1 Conceptual Foundations of Language Science Series editors Mark Dingemanse, Max Planck Institute for Psycholinguistics N. J. Enfield, University of Sydney Editorial board Balthasar Bickel, University of Zürich, Claire Bowern, Yale University, Elizabeth Couper-Kuhlen, University of Helsinki, William Croft, University of New Mexico, Rose-Marie Déchaine, University of British Columbia, William A. Foley, University of Sydney , William F. Hanks, University of California at Berkeley, Paul Kockelman, Yale University, Keren Rice, University of Toronto, Sharon Rose, University of California at San Diego, Frederick J. Newmeyer, University of Washington, Wendy Sandler, University of Haifa, Dan Sperber Central European University No scientific work proceeds without conceptual foundations. In language science, our concepts about language determine our assumptions, direct our attention, and guide our hypotheses and our reasoning. Only with clarity about conceptual foundations can we pose coherent research questions, design critical experiments, and collect crucial data. This series publishes short and accessible books that explore well-defined topics in the conceptual foundations of language science. The series provides a venue for conceptual arguments and explorations that do not require the traditional book- length treatment, yet that demand more space than a typical journal article allows. In this series: 1. N. J. Enfield. Natural causes of language. Natural causes of language Frames, biases, and cultural transmission N. J. Enfield language science press N. J. Enfield. 2014. Natural causes of language: Frames, biases, and cultural transmission (Conceptual Foundations of Language Science 1). Berlin: Language Science Press. -
Teaching Critical Whiteness Theory: What College and University Teachers Need to Know
Understanding and Dismantling Privilege Nichols, Teaching Critical Whiteness 1 Teaching Critical Whiteness Theory: What College and University Teachers Need to Know Dana Nichols St. John Fisher College My small, four‐year, regional, upstate New York college is similar to many colleges and universities across the country. It has a predominantly white student population, comprised primarily of middle‐ and working‐class students. The majority of my students are from rural, economically depressed, racially homogenous areas. When planning my first critical whiteness theory course, I knew that most, if not all of my students, would be white. I also knew that my class would probably be the first time white students had been asked to think about their racial identity in a formal educational setting and that they would need as many tools as I could offer them to critically engage with whiteness. I anticipated that I would encounter some resistant students, while other students would eagerly embrace a new way of thinking about themselves and the world, and I wanted to feel as prepared as possible for both kinds of students. In planning my own classes, I have turned to recent scholarship to glean some advice about how to build a successful whiteness studies class. This paper is a brief overview of some of those ideas and it covers four major areas: (1) the attitudes that white students bring with them, (2) the goals of critical whiteness pedagogy, (3) the potential pitfalls of critical whiteness pedagogy, and (4) strategies for counteracting the pitfalls. Volume 1, Issue 1, August 2010 Understanding and Dismantling Privilege Nichols, Teaching Critical Whiteness 2 When teachers think about the attitudes white students bring with them to the college classroom, they sometimes assume that white students have no awareness of themselves as racial subjects. -
Confessional Reflexivity As Introspection and Avowal
Establishing the ‘Truth’ of the Matter: Confessional Reflexivity as Introspection and Avowal JOSEPH WEBSTER University of Edinburgh The conceptualisation of reflexivity commonly found in social anthropology deploys the term as if it were both a ‘virtuous’ mechanism of self‐reflection and an ethical technique of truth telling, with reflexivity frequently deployed as an moral practice of introspection and avowal. Further, because reflexivity is used as a methodology for constructing the authority of ethnographic accounts, reflexivity in anthropology has come to closely resemble Foucault’s descriptions of confession. By discussing Lynch’s (2000) critical analysis of reflexivity as an ‘academic virtue’, I consider his argument through the lens of my own concept of ‘confessional reflexivity’. While supporting Lynch’s diagnosis of the ‘problem of reflexivity’, I attempt to critique his ethnomethodological cure as essentialist, I conclude that a way forward might be found by blending Foucault’s (1976, 1993) theory of confession with Bourdieu’s (1992) theory of ‘epistemic reflexivity’. The ubiquity of reflexivity and its many forms For as long as thirty years, reflexivity has occupied a ‘place of honour’ at the table of most social science researchers and research institutions. Reflexivity has become enshrined as a foundational, or, perhaps better, essential, concept which is relied upon as a kind of talisman whose power can be invoked to shore up the ‘truthiness’ of the claims those researchers and their institutions are in the business of making. No discipline, it seems, is more guilty of this ‘evoking’ than social anthropology (Lucy 2000, Sangren 2007, Salzaman 2002). Yet, despite the ubiquity of its deployment in anthropology, the term ‘reflexivity’ remains poorly defined. -
The Society of Linguistic Anthropology
Anthropology News February 2000 SECTION NEWS Emory U, Georgia Institute of Technology and in anthropology is marginal and he considers his anthropological approaches. Likewise, I have International Society for the Study of Narrative main interests as sociolinguistics. learned greatly from their dedication to studies of Literature will sponsor an International Confer- At the U of Auckland, until very recently, lin- NZ English, Maori and languages of the Pacific. ence on Narrative Apr 6-9,2000. See the Meeting guists belonged to two departments: English and Calendar for further details. Anthropology. Now, all linguists belong to a Us@l Addresses. Susan Gal, SLA Presidenl;.Dept Lmguistics Dept. I still have limited knowledge of of Anth, U of Chicago, 1126 E 59th St, Chicago IL Sociolinguistics and Anthropology in these liiguists, but my understanding is that 60637-1539; [email protected]. New Zealand those who were under the English department Alessandm Wanti, Journal of Linguistic An- are mostly formal (Chomskian) people, whereas thropology Edim; Dept of Anth, UCLA,CA 90095- By Yukako Sunaoshi (V of Auckland, New Zealand) those who were under the Anthropology depart- 1553; [email protected]. As an American-trained sociolinguist, I wasn’t ment are mostly descriptive people. It should be Laura Milk, SLA Progrmn Orgrmizer;.Dept of Soc sure what to expect when I first arrived in New noted, however, that many of these linguists are and Anthm, Lopla U, 6525 North Sheridan Road, Zealand. What I found was people doing very interested in the sociocultural aspects of language Chicago, IL 60626; tel 773/508-3469, fax 508- interesting work in sociolinguistics, but very little use and that the division between formal and 7099, lmil&[email protected]. -
Latin@ Identity Politics in Higher Education: Unveiling Representations of Whiteness in Latin@ Culture Michael Benitez Jr
Iowa State University Capstones, Theses and Graduate Theses and Dissertations Dissertations 2015 Latin@ identity politics in higher education: unveiling representations of whiteness in Latin@ culture Michael Benitez Jr. Iowa State University Follow this and additional works at: https://lib.dr.iastate.edu/etd Part of the Chicana/o Studies Commons, Higher Education Administration Commons, Higher Education and Teaching Commons, and the Latina/o Studies Commons Recommended Citation Benitez, Michael Jr., "Latin@ identity politics in higher education: unveiling representations of whiteness in Latin@ culture" (2015). Graduate Theses and Dissertations. 14775. https://lib.dr.iastate.edu/etd/14775 This Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by the Iowa State University Capstones, Theses and Dissertations at Iowa State University Digital Repository. It has been accepted for inclusion in Graduate Theses and Dissertations by an authorized administrator of Iowa State University Digital Repository. For more information, please contact [email protected]. Latin@ identity politics in higher education: Unveiling representations of whiteness in Latin@ culture by Michael Benitez Jr. A dissertation submitted to the graduate faculty in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY Major: Education (Educational Leadership) Program of Study Committee: Natasha Croom, Chair Brian D. Behnken Connie P. Hargrave Laura I. Rendón Manali J. Sheth Iowa State University Ames, Iowa 2015 Copyright © Michael Benitez Jr., 2015. All rights reserved. ii DEDICATION I dedicate this dissertation to my family for their ongoing support and love throughout the seven years it has taken me to complete this project. They have truly been there for me every step of the way. -
Linguistic Anthropology in 2013: Super-New-Big
AMERICAN ANTHROPOLOGIST Linguistic Anthropology Linguistic Anthropology in 2013: Super-New-Big Angela Reyes ABSTRACT In this essay, I discuss how linguistic anthropological scholarship in 2013 has been increasingly con- fronted by the concepts of “superdiversity,” “new media,” and “big data.” As the “super-new-big” purports to identify a contemporary moment in which we are witnessing unprecedented change, I interrogate the degree to which these concepts rely on assumptions about “reality” as natural state versus ideological production. I consider how the super-new-big invites us to scrutinize various reconceptualizations of diversity (is it super?), media (is it new?), and data (is it big?), leaving us to inevitably contemplate each concept’s implicitly invoked opposite: “regular diversity,” “old media,” and “small data.” In the section on “diversity,” I explore linguistic anthropological scholarship that examines how notions of difference continue to be entangled in projects of the nation-state, the market economy, and social inequality. In the sections on “media” and “data,” I consider how questions about what constitutes lin- guistic anthropological data and methodology are being raised and addressed by research that analyzes new and old technologies, ethnographic material, semiotic forms, scale, and ontology. I conclude by questioning the extent to which it is the super-new-big itself or the contemplation about the super-new-big that produces perceived change in the world. [linguistic anthropology, superdiversity, new media, big data, -
Whitewashing Or Amnesia: a Study of the Construction
WHITEWASHING OR AMNESIA: A STUDY OF THE CONSTRUCTION OF RACE IN TWO MIDWESTERN COUNTIES A DISSERTATION IN Sociology and History Presented to the Faculty of the University of Missouri-Kansas City in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY by DEBRA KAY TAYLOR M.A., University of Missouri-Kansas City, 2005 B.L.A., University of Missouri-Kansas City, 2000 Kansas City, Missouri 2019 © 2019 DEBRA KAY TAYLOR ALL RIGHTS RESERVE WHITEWASHING OR AMNESIA: A STUDY OF THE CONSTRUCTION OF RACE IN TWO MIDWESTERN COUNTIES Debra Kay Taylor, Candidate for the Doctor of Philosophy Degree University of Missouri-Kansas City, 2019 ABSTRACT This inter-disciplinary dissertation utilizes sociological and historical research methods for a critical comparative analysis of the material culture as reproduced through murals and monuments located in two counties in Missouri, Bates County and Cass County. Employing Critical Race Theory as the theoretical framework, each counties’ analysis results are examined. The concepts of race, systemic racism, White privilege and interest-convergence are used to assess both counties continuance of sustaining a racially imbalanced historical narrative. I posit that the construction of history of Bates County and Cass County continues to influence and reinforces systemic racism in the local narrative. Keywords: critical race theory, race, racism, social construction of reality, white privilege, normality, interest-convergence iii APPROVAL PAGE The faculty listed below, appointed by the Dean of the School of Graduate Studies, have examined a dissertation titled, “Whitewashing or Amnesia: A Study of the Construction of Race in Two Midwestern Counties,” presented by Debra Kay Taylor, candidate for the Doctor of Philosophy degree, and certify that in their opinion it is worthy of acceptance. -
Uncovering the White Place: Whitewashing at Work Reitman, Meredith
www.ssoar.info Uncovering the white place: whitewashing at work Reitman, Meredith Preprint / Preprint Zeitschriftenartikel / journal article Empfohlene Zitierung / Suggested Citation: Reitman, M. (2006). Uncovering the white place: whitewashing at work. Social & Cultural Geography, 7(2), 267-282. https://doi.org/10.1080/14649360600600692 Nutzungsbedingungen: Terms of use: Dieser Text wird unter einer CC BY-NC-ND Lizenz This document is made available under a CC BY-NC-ND Licence (Namensnennung-Nicht-kommerziell-Keine Bearbeitung) zur (Attribution-Non Comercial-NoDerivatives). For more Information Verfügung gestellt. Nähere Auskünfte zu den CC-Lizenzen finden see: Sie hier: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/deed.de Diese Version ist zitierbar unter / This version is citable under: https://nbn-resolving.org/urn:nbn:de:0168-ssoar-379226 Social & Cultural Geography, Vol. 7, No. 2, April 2006 Uncovering the white place: whitewashing at work Meredith Reitman Department of Geography, University of Wisconsin–Milwaukee, PO Box 413, Milwaukee, WI 53201, USA, [email protected] Recent work exploring the racialization of place tends to focus on the racialization of marginalized group space. This paper shifts attention toward the racialization of dominant group space, namely, the creation and maintenance of white places. Using the case study of the software workplace, I argue that white places are formed through a process of whitewashing, which simultaneously denies race and superimposes white culture. Whitewashing wields language and invisibility to deny race and promote a particular kind of multiculturalism, while cloaking the workplace in a culture of informality and business politics. -
Ethnolinguistics in the Year 2016∗
Ethnolinguistic 28 Lublin 2017 I. Research articles DOI: 10.17951/et.2016.28.7 Jerzy B a r t m i ń s k i (UMCS, Lublin, Poland) Ethnolinguistics in the Year 2016∗ This article is the voice of Etnolingwistyka’s Editor-in-Chief on the current tasks of ethnolinguistics as a scholarly subdiscipline, as well as those of the journal. According to the author, of the two foundations of Slavic ethnolin- guistics mentioned by Nikita Tolstoy (i.e., its pan-Slavic character and the unity of language and culture) it is mainly the latter that has preserved its topicality: language is the source of knowledge about people and human com- munities, as well as the basis for building one’s identity (individual, national, regional, professional). The agenda of cultural linguistics has been followed by the contributors to the present journal and its editorial team with a focus on various genres of folklore, the problems of the linguistic worldview, and in recent issues with studies on the semantics of selected cultural concepts (FAMILY, DEMOCRACY, EQUALITY, OTVETSTVENNOST’, etc.). An ethnolinguistics that thus seeks “culture in language” (i.e. in the semantic layer of linguistic forms) is close – especially in its cognitivist variant – to Western cultural or anthropological linguistics. When Slavic ethnolinguistics focuses on the semantics of value terms, it stands a good chance of engaging in a dialogue with Western anthropological linguistics and contribute original insights to the common body of research on values. A specific proposal in this direction is the international project EUROJOS. Key words: cultural linguistics, culture in language, Etnolingwistyka, EUROJOS, Axiological Lexicon of Slavs and their Neighbours, cultural concepts ∗ This is a revised and extended version of the paper presented at the conference Slawische Ethnolinguistik: Methoden, Ergebnisse, Perspektive (17–19 December, 2015), organized by the Department of Slavonic Studies at the University of Vienna. -
Defining Whiteness: Perspectives on Privilege
Defning Whiteness: Perspectives on Privilege Anna Lindner Although white people have largely dictated the global narratives of history, philosophy, literature, and beyond, whiteness as a racial category remains vague. How, then, do we defne whiteness and how do those considered white relate to other racial groups? One path to understanding these questions is to provide an overview of whiteness, including its history, as well as Black authors’ interpretations of white identity and its impact on populations of color, critical whiteness studies, case studies, and contemporary scholarship in the feld. Te overview concludes by addressing white privilege and the ways in which whites can support people of color in the pursuit of racial justice. In terms of scholarship, the research presented here is focused primarily on the United States, drawing on research from other countries when applicable. Anna Lindner is pursuing her Master's Degree in Media, Culture, and Communication at New York University. Her research focuses on historical approaches to critical race and gender studies. You can reach her at [email protected]. gnovis • 43 Volume 18, Issue 2 • Spring 2018 Introduction: What is Whiteness? that we lacked a racial identity, or if that we possess one, it contains no relevance” (2014, Given the global history of colonization 20). Whites are permitted to exist outside of and imperialism of generally lighter peoples racial identity, even though non-whites are over darker, discrimination on the basis constantly assigned racial labels. In other of skin color and other manifestations words, to be white enables one to retain a of prejudice have played a pivotal role in sense of individuality, while barring people shaping the world. -
Introduction Reframing Framing: Interaction and the Constitution of Culture and Society
Pragmatics 21:2.185-190 2011 International Pragmatics Association DOI: 10.1075/prag.21.2.01par INTRODUCTION REFRAMING FRAMING: INTERACTION AND THE CONSTITUTION OF CULTURE AND SOCIETY Joseph Sung-Yul Park and Hiroko Takanashi Abstract This special issue revisits the notion of framing based on several recent developments in the fields of sociolinguistics, discourse analysis, and linguistic anthropology, particularly the current interest in the notions of stance, style, metalinguistics and language ideology. In doing so, the contributions highlight the importance of framing not only in the management of micro-level interactional practices but also in the reproduction of cultural ideologies and social relations. Keywords: Framing; Stance; Style; Language ideology; Interaction. This special issue aims to renew the interest in framing as a key concept for the analysis of interactional discourse. In particular, it highlights the role of framing in mediating the constitution of culture and social order in interactional contexts. Based on interactional data gathered from diverse contexts of Africa, Asia, and America, and building upon recent developments in the study of stance, style, and language ideology, the papers in this collection underline how speakers’ practices of framing can be understood as a locus for the dynamic reproduction of cultural assumptions and social organization. Goffman’s (1974, 1981) formulation of framing, based on Bateson’s (1972) work, has already had a major influence on how we understand the way participants in interaction intersubjectively negotiate and manage social meaning and social relations: that is, how they understand what is going on in the situation at hand, how they make sense of utterances produced, how they determine the positions they should take in relation to each other (Tannen and Wallat 1987).