Working Against Racism from White Subject Positions: White Anti-Racism, New Abolitionism & Intersectional Anti-White Irish Diasporic Nationalism
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Working Against Racism from White Subject Positions: White Anti-Racism, New Abolitionism & Intersectional Anti-White Irish Diasporic Nationalism By Matthew W. Horton A dissertation submitted in partial satisfaction of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Education and the Designated Emphasis in Critical Theory in the Graduate Division of the University of California, Berkeley Committee in charge: Dr. Na’ilah Nasir, Chair Dr. Daniel Perlstein Dr. Keith Feldman Summer 2019 Working Against Racism from White Subject Positions Matthew W. Horton 2019 ABSTRACT Working Against Racism from White Subject Positions: White Anti-Racism, New Abolitionism & Intersectional Anti-White Irish Diasporic Nationalism by Matthew W. Horton Doctor of Philosophy in Education and the Designated Emphasis in Critical Theory University of California, Berkeley Professor Na’ilah Nasir, Chair This dissertation is an intervention into Critical Whiteness Studies, an ‘additional movement’ to Ethnic Studies and Critical Race Theory. It systematically analyzes key contradictions in working against racism from a white subject positions under post-Civil Rights Movement liberal color-blind white hegemony and "Black Power" counter-hegemony through a critical assessment of two major competing projects in theory and practice: white anti-racism [Part 1] and New Abolitionism [Part 2]. I argue that while white anti-racism is eminently practical, its efforts to hegemonically rearticulate white are overly optimistic, tend toward renaturalizing whiteness, and are problematically dependent on collaboration with people of color. I further argue that while New Abolitionism has popularized and advanced an alternative approach to whiteness which understands whiteness as ‘nothing but oppressive and false’ and seeks to ‘abolish the white race’, its ultimately class-centered conceptualization of race and idealization of militant nonconformity has failed to realize effective practice. Part 3 considers alternative identities to whiteness, argues for a stronger race-centered definition of whiteness as a secular coalition of previously antagonistic european peoples forged on global frontiers for the purposes of dispossessing, exploiting, and killing people of color, advances a framework for understanding processes of ‘becoming white’ without ‘necessary correspondence to class’, and proposes an alternative approach to ‘abolishing the white race’ focused on its internal ‘ethnic fissures’ called intersectional, anti-white, Irish Diasporic nationalism. 1 [THIS PAGE INTENTIONALLY LEFT BLANK] i TABLE OF CONTENTS ABSTRACT …………………………………………………………………………………... 1 LIST OF FIGURES ………………………………………………………..………………….. vi DEDICATION ………………………………………………………………………………... vii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ………………………………………………………………….. viii INTRODUCTION …………………………………………………………………………. 01 A. ‘Critical Whiteness Studies’ B. Methods C. Roadmap CHAPTER 1: An Epistemology of Critical Whiteness Studies: Critical Race Theory, Standpoint & Intersectionality ……………..……….. 09 A. Critical Race Theory & Liberal Color-Blind White Hegemony B. Feminism & Standpoint C. Black Feminism & Intersectionality D. Black Women’s Standpoint & ‘Transversal Dialogue’ E. Black Feminism, White Feminists &’ Transectional Empathy’ F. Critical Race Theory, Standpoint & ‘White Cognizance’ G. Critical Whiteness Studies: As Field, Method & Practice PART 1: WHITE ANTI-RACISM IN THEORY & PRACTICE CHAPTER 2: White Anti-Racism in Theory ………………………………………...…..... 22 I. THE WHITE ANTI-RACIST ‘WE’ A. Howard Winant & Rearticulating Whiteness B. White Anti-Racist Role Models C. The Tendential Force of Whiteness D. "White" as Field Specific Sign II. WHITE ANTI-RACISTS & COUNTER-HEGEMONIC POLARIZATION E. Positivization of the Negative F. Neutralization & Positivization of Counter-Hegemonically Negative "White" G. Naturalization of Whiteness H. Meaning & Power I. Conclusion ii CHAPTER 3: White Anti-Racism in Practice: Confession, Conversion & Collaboration ... 33 A. Confession: Solidifying Positional Consciousness B. Conversion, Standpoint & Incompleteness C. Conversion: Starting from the Standpoints of People of Color D. Conversion: People of Color as a Barometer of Knowing E. Conversion: The Use of Privilege F. Ideal White Anti-Racist ‘Autonomy’ G. Andrea Smith’s The Problem with 'Privilege' & Ideal Collaborative Structures CHAPTER 4: White Anti-Racism’s Collaborative Demand, ‘Commitment’ & ‘Martyrdom ... 42 A. Proximal Empathy & Segregation as Problem B. White Anti-Racist Bodies: A Clear & Present Danger C. White Anti-Racist Choice & Collaborative Spaces D. Collaboration, Uncertainty & Experimentation E. ‘The Role of the White Liberal’ is a ‘Martyr's Role’ F. White Anti-Racist ‘Commitment’ & ‘Martyrdom’ G. White Anti-Racist ‘Martyrdom’ & Armed Struggle H. Conclusion: 'Martyrdom' for a Different Project PART 2: NEW ABOLITIONISM IN THEORY & PRACTICE Introduction to Part 2 …..………...……………………………………………………….. 59 CHAPTER 5: An Epistemic, Organizational & Biographical History of New Abolitionism ……………………………………………….. 61 I. ‘REPUDIATING WHITE-SKIN PRIVILEGE’: AN ALTERNATIVE ‘WHITE COMMUNIST’ APPROACH TO ORGANIZING THE WHITE WORKING CLASS A. Ignatin & Allen's 1967 White Blindspot Formulation B. White Blindspot & SDS C. White Blindspot & The Weather Underground Organization D. Ignatin, RYM-II, the Sojourner Truth Organization, & his Choice of CLR James II. J. SAKAI’S SETTLERS: MARXIST STANDPOINT THEORY & THE ‘REVOLUTIONARY POTENTIAL’ OF WHITE WORKERS E. Sakai & Allen: Two Historical Definitions of Whiteness with ‘Necessary Class Belonging’ F. Gilbert & Ignatin Respond: Taking Stock of Efforts to ‘Repudiate White-Skin Privileges’ G. The Possibilities & Historical Realities of Exceptionality iii CHAPTER 6: New Abolitionism in Theory: Key Ideological Elements & Discursive Strategy …………………………... 83 A. Whiteness as Mutually Constitutive B. James Baldwin & the Choice to ‘Abolish’ Whiteness C. ‘Race Traitor: The Journal of the New Abolitionism’ D. The New Abolitionist ‘Movement’ II. NEW ABOLITIONIST DISCURSIVE STRATEGY E. Denaturalizing & Problematizing "White" F. Problematic Resignifications & Designifications: "Europeans", "Fair Complexions" & Default Humanity G. ‘Race Treason:’ A Placeholder H. "Race Treason", "Anti-Racism" and Institutional Racism III. TOWARDS A NEW STYLE SHEET FOR THE ABOLITION OF WHITENESS CHAPTER 7: New Abolitionism, Liberal Color-Blindness & “Black Power”: Confession, Conversion & Whiteness ………………………………………. 102 A. New Abolitionism & Liberal Color-Blindness: Confession, Conversion & Whiteness B. Confession: Demonstrating ‘Positional Consciousness’ C. Conversion: Embracing the ‘Task’ of ‘Abolishing the White Race from Within’ D. ‘Starting from’ the Standpoints of People of Color, Choice & Interpretation E. New Abolitionism & the Standpoints of People of Color F. Ideal Collaboration, Provisional 'Autonomy' G. ‘Autonomy’, Masculinity & Intersectional Feminism H. Conclusion CHAPTER 8: New Abolitionism in Practice ……...………………...……………….…. 120 A. The Exemplar of John Brown: Defining the Threshold of ‘Race Treason’ B. ‘Individual Breaks with White Solidarity’: Disrupting White Racial Bonding Through Confrontational Disidentification C. A ‘Critical Mass’ to Reach Escape Velocity D. The New Abolitionist Concept of a Monolithic ‘White Race’ & Adaptive Whiteness E. A ‘Collective Break with White Solidarity’: Copwatch F. Conclusion: John Brown, Vanguardism & ‘the Martyr's Role’ iv PART 3: ALTERNATIVES TO WHITENESS CHAPTER 9: New Abolitionists & Political Blackness as Alternative Identity …………. 138 A. ‘Treason to Whiteness is Loyalty to Humanity’ B. New Abolitionist Disidentification & ‘Becoming Black’ C. Race Treason & ‘Crossing Over’ into Blackness D. Rachel Doležal: A Delayed Exemplar of ‘Race Treason’ Through Blackness? E. Doležal’s ‘Radical Experimentation’ & Dilemmas of ‘Crossing Over’ F. Deconstructing Blackness, Naturalizing Race G. Doležal & New Abolitionism H. ‘Crossing Over’ & “Black Power” I. Conclusion: Viable Alternatives to Militant Nonconformity & ‘Political Blackness’? CHAPTER 10: ‘Becoming White’: A Race-Centered Definition of Whiteness …...……. 155 A. European Proto-Racism, Britain & the ‘New World’ B. ‘English’ Rights & ‘Europeans’ in the Anglo-American Colonies C. "White" as Cognate for ‘Civilized-European-Christian’ in Anglo-American Colonies D. Whiteness & the British Empire E. Conclusion CHAPTER 11: American Nationalism, Pan-European Whiteness & Its ‘Ethnic’ Fissures …. 168 A. Scientific Racism & the Rights of Man [1740-1795] B. The White Republic & Anglo-Conformity C. The ‘Ethnic Fissures’ in Whiteness D. Ideal Pan-European Whiteness & U.S. Empire E. American Nationalism, Liberal Color-Blindness, “Black Power” & ‘White Ethnic Revival’ F. Conclusion CHAPTER 12: ‘Becoming Irish’: An Alternative Approach to Whiteness …….……...… 183 A. Anti-Irish Racism, Irish-Americans & The Choice of Whiteness B. Towards Intersectional & Anti-Racist Irish Diasporic Nationalism C. Tom Hayden, White Irish-Americans & the Choice of Whiteness D. Hayden’s Proposal for Irish Whiteness: Confession, Conversion & Dissimilation E. Irish History: ‘White Interests’ vs. ‘Irish Interests’ F. The ‘Tendential Force’ of "Irish", Collaboration, ‘Autonomy’ & ‘Feasibility’ G. White Anti-Racists, New Abolitionists, Nationalisms & Decolonization CONCLUSION ……………………………………………………………………………... 205 REFERENCES ……………………………………………………………………………... 211 v LIST OF FIGURES FIGURE 1. [p. 175]. Depiction of racial hierarchy combining Johann Blumenbach’s pyramid structure, which reconciled Classical