Social & Cultural Geography, Vol. 9, No. 4, June 2008 Whitewash: white privilege and racialized landscapes at the University of Georgia Joshua F. J. Inwood1 & Deborah G. Martin2 1Department of Geology and Geography, Auburn University, Auburn, AL 36849, USA, jfi
[email protected]; 2School of Geography, Clark University, 950 Main St., Worcester, MA 01610, USA,
[email protected] This paper examines racialized landscapes at the University of Georgia to better understand the ways that whiteness—or more specifically white privilege—is positioned in and uses landscapes. Given a history of segregation, violently contested desegregation, and a contemporary student body that is disproportionately white (compared to the population of the entire state of Georgia), we investigate the meanings and contradictions of the University’s historic ‘North Campus’. Using a multi-method qualitative approach—including open-ended interviews and ‘roving focus groups’—we argue that privileged, white landscapes operate through a kind of whitewashing of history, which seeks to deploy race strategically to create a progressive landscape narrative pertaining to ‘race’. Key words: roving focus group, landscapes of memory, landscape studies, place identity, race, white privilege. Whitewash: 1. means employed to conceal mistakes the display was a photograph of Ms. Hunter- or faults.-v. 2. attempt to clear reputation by Gault pushing her way through a crowd of concealing facts. (Thompson 1998: 1049) angry white students with a large caption that read: ‘Make way for the nigger’. Before the In the winter of 2005 the University of Georgia exhibit was unveiled the campus newspaper, (UGA) unveiled an exhibit in Myers Residence The Red and Black, ran several newspaper Hall honoring Charlayne Hunter-Gault and articles highlighting the significance of the Hamilton Holmes, the first African Americans exhibit.