Habits of Whiteness

by Macmullan, Terrance

• ISBN13: 9780253220714
• ISBN10: 0253220718
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2009-03-05
• Publisher: Indiana Univ Pr

Summary

Habits of Whitenessoffers a new way to talk about race and racism by focusing on racial habits and how to change them. According to Terrance MacMullan, the concept of racial whiteness has undermined attempts to create a truly democratic society in the United States. By getting to the core of the racism that lives on in unrecognized habits, MacMullan argues clearly and charitably for white folk to recognize the distance between their colour-blind ideals and their actual behaviour. Revitalizing the work of W. E. B. Du Bois and John Dewey, MacMullan shows how it is possible to reconstruct racial habits and close the gap between people. This forthright and persuasive analysis of the impulses of whiteness ultimately reorganizes them into something more compatible with America's increasingly multicultural heritage.

Author Biography

Terrance MacMullan is Associate Professor of Philosophy and Honors at Eastern Washington University. He is co-editor of Revealing Male Bodies (IUP, 2002). He lives in Spokane, Washington.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments	p. ix
Introduction: "<$$$>Que Haces Gringuito?!"	p. 1
History
Bacon's Rebellion and the Advent of Whiteness	p. 25
The Draft Riots of 1863 and the Defense of White Privilege	p. 43
Pragmatist Tools
John Dewey and Inquiry	p. 59
Race as Deweyan Habit	p. 71
Du Bois and the Gift of Race	p. 94
Du Bois's Critique of Whiteness	p. 110
Contemporary Problems and Debates
Whiteness in Post-Civil Rights America	p. 129
Contemporary Debates on Whiteness	p. 146
Reconstructing Whiteness
Habits of Whiteness	p. 167
Whiteness Reconstructed	p. 182
Conclusion: Gifts beyond the Pale	p. 211
Notes	p. 227
Bibliography	p. 243
Index	p. 251
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