The Future of Whiteness, by Linda Martín Alcoff
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The Future of Whiteness, by Linda Martín Alcoff
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White identity is in ferment. White, European Americans living in the United States will soon share an unprecedented experience of slipping below 50% of the population. The impending demographic shifts are already felt in most urban centers and the effect is a national backlash of hyper-mobilized political, and sometimes violent, activism with a stated aim that is simultaneously vague and deadly clear: 'to take our country back.' Meanwhile the spectre of 'minority status' draws closer, and the material advantages of being born white are eroding. This is the political and cultural reality tackled by Linda Martín Alcoff in The Future of Whiteness. She argues that whiteness is here to stay, at least for a while, but that half of whites have given up on ideas of white supremacy, and the shared public, material culture is more integrated than ever. More and more, whites are becoming aware of how they appear to non-whites, both at home and abroad, and this is having profound effects on white identity in North America. The young generation of whites today, as well as all those who follow, will have never known a country in which they could take white identity as the unchallenged default that dominates the political, economic and cultural leadership. Change is on the horizon, and the most important battleground is among white people themselves. The Future of Whiteness makes no predictions but astutely analyzes the present reaction and evaluates the current signs of turmoil. Beautifully written and cogently argued, the book looks set to spark debate in the field and to illuminate an important area of racial politics.
The Future of Whiteness, by Linda Martín Alcoff - Amazon Sales Rank: #755904 in eBooks
- Published on: 2015-10-12
- Released on: 2015-10-12
- Format: Kindle eBook
The Future of Whiteness, by Linda Martín Alcoff Review
"A profound meditation on 'whiteness' – its past, its present, and its possible future – by one of our leading scholars of race. Deftly interweaving theory, autobiography, and her own personal history of antiracist activism, Linda Martín Alcoff has produced the most impressive philosophical exploration ever of this peculiar 'world-historical' social identity."Charles Mills, Northwestern University
"Against the contemporary backdrop of changing racial demographics and widespread condemnation of its relative power and privileges, Linda Alcoff challenges us to think in more nuanced ways about whiteness. This is a compellingly hopeful if sober analysis, offering renewed possibility for a much more modest conception of whiteness, one incorporating a commitment to racial justice as part of its raison d'être. The Future of Whiteness is a book for our times."David Goldberg, University of California, Irvine
About the Author Linda Martin Alcoff is Professor of Philosophy at Hunter College
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Most helpful customer reviews
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful. Limited in scope By AmazonJavaJunki Written in an academic style but lacking the rigor of most academic works, this book falls somewhere between a general interest book for the public and a scholarly work. It does contain an index and extensive reference section so could be suitable for use in a college class but frankly, the overall impact falls short. It's not without merit, it just doesn't seem to substantiate the assertions made...or take the basic premise far enough. While it is true that the white majority is rapidly becoming a minority, what is much less evident is how that impacts society at large. If we are to presume that white privilege alone is the only measure then it is a limited scope to be sure. On the other hand, if we are to assume that a migration from "white" Latino's and other current "minorities" will result in a similar shift from "Jewish, Italian, Irish etc to "white" then a vastly different picture emerges. The now infamous "oreo cookie" reference is yet another example of the problem with trying to neatly package and define whiteness in this nation. Overall this is a topic in need of discussion but as a foreign born and raised "non -white" married to an extremely "white" spouse, even our own relationship has been redefined via government agencies over the years...initially we were considered an "inter-racial marriage' via the Census - against our own wishes...and then later redefined...and redefined again. Clearly this is a topic in need of clarity and discussion so I was glad to see this work begin to initiate that discussion but the overall impact was limited and conservative.
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful. Provocative and challenging - not light reading, but many vital observations By Nathan Webster This is a provocative and challenging analysis, and it demands a fair amount of effort from the reader. If you're familiar with the Polity press, you know they publish very detailed academic research, and this is no different.If I had a wish - and this was not promised by the book, so it's no complaint - it's that it would be more accessible to general audiences. It raises strong ideas but I do think a reader needs to come with an open mind and a background in history. If you come to this book unprepared to hear that "white supremacy" is a true thing, you might be too defensive to get anything from it. The reality about "white culture" isn't that it's automatically better/worse - but it IS/WAS the supreme culture in the country, and that is now changing, and of course that culture doesn't like that.But right now we're still in the middle of this change - so one 'side' is grasping to a fading past, and the other is rising to a more equal place. It's revolutionary, even if it doesn't seem that way.It's tough to point to any one thing from this book to try to sum it up. This is well-presented academic research and I think an audience interested in objectively examining changes in our society will appreciate it - but this is not light reading. You need to be familiar with the expectations and demands of reading this sort of academic research to get the most from it - I'm not sure I was!
4 of 5 people found the following review helpful. An Absolute Must Read By Hrafnkell Haraldsson I don’t like to overuse the term “must read” but Linda Martin Alcoff’s The Future of Whiteness is a must-read. We live in the era of white reaction to non-whites getting equal rights, and changing demographics – by 2050 white Europeans will no longer be a majority - have created a frenzy of over-reaction on the right, and some problems on the left too, as Bernie Sanders found out when Black Lives Matter upstaged him and demanded to be heard.When we see white supremacists courted by a major political party, and groups touting “white slavery” and “white genocide,” it’s time white people take a look at what is going on, and think, perhaps for the first time, about what being white means, what it has meant in the past, and what it will mean in the future.As Alcoff writes, “This is a book about a topic many would rather avoid.” It is not an easy subject, racism, particularly when we are assured by the same political party courting white supremacists that we live in a post-racist world (there is a left-wing version of post-racialism too, she argues). There is a lot of white-splaining going on over at Fox News – by white men. I’m a white man, and this offends me.How does a white male of all demographic groups get to tell non-whites how they should feel?Alcoff points to the election of Barack Obama and to “a white reaction that can take some pretty hysterical forms.” She says that “holding a significant majority within a nation has granted whites the ability to believe in the legitimacy of a white-dominated government.” I would argue that it goes further than this, to a white “Christian” government, but Alcoff is not interested in the religious question, and you won’t even find it in the index of her book.The subject at hand, I have to admit, is potent enough, and that would make for another book altogether. So we have a “Sturm und Drang” as she says, on the right, but we also have a white-dominated left. And white liberals, she says, “remain uncomfortable in broaching the topic, while white conservatives generally try to disguise their racial references, though the disguise is often so ineffective as to be a joke.”This is an uncomfortable topic for liberals and progressives as well, much as we might want to deny it. I know the suggestion made me uncomfortable in reading it, but it forced me to re-examine my own reactions. Alcoff says that “the extreme unabashed right wing dominates race-talk, while all others, including the left, the liberals, and the moderates, largely maintain race avoidance.”And that was what Bernie Sanders, for example, was accused of – ignoring systemic racism. He had been invited to speak about Social Security and Medicare. His response was a “racial justice platform” that then won praise from the BLM movement. Alcoff doesn’t address Sanders or Black Lives Matter specifically but they seem excellent examples of the forces she is addressing.And Alcoff says we need to talk about this, and she calls the left’s tendency to separate class from race unhelpful in this regard. I thought about this, and I do think it is true that we tend to do that. She points out that “If race is basically an illusion – or a mere ideological overlay that mystifies reality, as it is on this mainstream left view – then the demographic changes make no real difference, only a difference at the level of ideology.”From the point of view of a liberal, this means that at the very best, even if we are not part of the problem, we are also not part of the solution.Alcoff moves on to a discussion of whiteness, what it is, what it means, and its history, and history shows that whiteness as “moveable” boundaries, as she puts it; Irish and Italians have both had to earn their white status, and she points out that even today southern Europeans and Jews are only “borderline” whites.It’s a bet of a mess isn’t it, this “white” thing? In fact, whiteness is a “historical and social construct” rather than a “singular idea” and it has changed and continues to change. She talks about labels and the changing nature of social identities (given society itself is changing). She employs categories from around the world, including Yugoslavia after its break up, the Mason-Dixon line, and Rwanda, and offers us a brief history of “race” and a discussion of “class.”This is no easy read and it should not be, given the complexity and importance of the subject. It is important we understand these things so that we can intelligently discuss them. These are concepts it is often difficult for us to wrap our thoughts around, even assuming we can come to some agreement on terms.Alcoff’s chapter on white exceptionalism is particularly important today, and here she employs William Faulkner to illustrate our contradictory attitudes towards race and white supremacy. Being a philosopher, it is hardly surprising that we should also meet here Newton and Goethe and discussions of universalism versus purity.This is a book that will make you think, and it would have very little value if it simply validated existing attitudes. Because whiteness is not an unchallenged default, this is a subject that should receive our undivided attention. I cannot recommend this book enough. It will challenge your thinking, and I can think of no higher praise.
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