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“MARKING WHITENESS” FOR CROSS-RACIAL SOLIDARITY

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  16 November 2015

Greta Fowler Snyder
Greta Fowler Snyder*
Affiliation:
Political Science and International Relations Programme, Victoria University of Wellington
*
*Corresponding author: Dr. Greta Snyder, Political Science and International Relations Programme, Victoria University of Wellington, P.O. Box 600, Wellington 6040, New Zealand. E-mail: greta.snyder@vuw.ac.nz_
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Abstract

The dramatic difference in typical Black and White lifeworlds—or sets of “cultural givens” assumed by Black and White Americans and used to interpret experience—impedes the development of a cross-racial solidarity oriented toward racial justice. If such a cross-racial solidarity is to be realized, actors must reorient the average White lifeworld in ways that make Whites more receptive to Black claims. I identify, theorize, and assess a particular strategy for transforming the dominant White lifeworld, and thus facilitating cross-racial solidarity, that directly confronts contemporary Whiteness: “marking Whiteness.” The idea of “marking Whiteness” is abstracted from three different texts—the blog-turned-book Stuff White People Like, a satiric essay entitled “I Am a Martyr (And So Can You!): A Guide to White Male Victimhood” published in Esquire magazine, and the sketch comedy phenomenon Chappelle’s Show. Interventions that “mark Whiteness” make Whiteness hyper-visible—as is characteristic of “marked” groups—and portray average White behavior and ideas as integral to the systemic reproduction of racial injustice. “Marking Whiteness” renders the racial polity visible, and makes contemporary Whites’ complicity in racial injustice undeniable. While there are good reasons to be skeptical of the progressive credentials of any mass cultural product and popular texts are often subject to misinterpretation, popular culture should be recognized as an important site in lifeworld and solidarity construction and reconstruction.

Keywords

WhitenessLifeworldSolidarityMarkingPopular CulturePostracial
Type
State of the Art
Information
Du Bois Review: Social Science Research on Race , Volume 12 , Issue 2 , Fall 2015 , pp. 297 - 319
Copyright
Copyright © Hutchins Center for African and African American Research 2015 

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