A202 – U.S. Arts & Media
Topic: Theories and Transformations of Whiteness in the US Context


This course, which analyzes whiteness critically, is not a
validation of “white people” but rather an investigation of what it
means to be “white” and how such an ideology shapes the attitudes of
the “majority” (i.e. those with access to resources and power)
toward those who are deemed to be “different” or “nonwhite.” In
reality, nobody is actually white; whiteness nonetheless remains a
powerful structuring logic in the United States. It has for
centuries validated both inequality and inhumanity in a country that
has historically held itself above such behaviors and ideals.
Whiteness, and the associations that “white” carries in the cultural
context of the United States, conveys meaning not only in terms of
ideas of “race”. It shapes how those in the United States view
themselves and “others” along the lines of race, gender, ethnicity,
class, and so on.  It plays a critical role in our sense of identity
yet remains unacknowledged as such; it occupies the status of
the “norm” against which all difference is judged to be “abnormal.”
In this course we will follow the lead of the many scholars,
writers, and cultural critics who have tried to make
whiteness ‘strange,” we will likewise seek to push it to the
forefront of cultural consciousness and remove it from its
unquestioned and familiar status. Our focus is based primarily in
the areas of theory, history, and media. We must first be able to
understand the essence of whiteness on a theoretical level to
understand how it functions later in our exploration of historical
transformations in and mediated representations of whiteness. What
whiteness is, what it does, and how it affects our world views and
everyday experiences will be explored. The remainder of the course
examines whiteness historically and representationally. Our
historical exploration of whiteness reveals its numerous shifts to
meet new ways of thinking about identity; nowhere is this more
evident than in its various mediated representations. The
literature, photographs, and films that we will examine are
therefore not only “historical” but are also instructional and
reflective texts that participate in the shaping of cultural
attitudes toward “white” and “nonwhite” peoples. Media thus function
both as the critical lenses through which we can gauge the “racial”
pulse of the United States at a particular historical moment and as
the nodes in the greater network of cultural transformation that
enables us to critically examine the function of whiteness in the
past, present, and the future.
This is an interdisciplinary class, and the critical approaches that
we will utilize are just as diverse as the voices and the texts that
we will explore. We will draw on a vast array of disciplinary fields
that include Literary Criticism, Film Studies, Critical Race Theory,
History, Cultural Studies, and American Studies. Additional areas
will also be utilized, and student contributions from their
respective departments will contribute further to our analysis of
this dominant yet elusive cultural ideology. There are no
prerequisites for this course and students from any department are
encouraged to sign up.