Whiteness in America isn’t just the neutral norm against which racial minorities, particularly Black people, are measured. Whiteness in America means having the privilege and power that go along with being part of that supposed norm. And becoming white – not in terms of pigment but of social status – is a choice that nearly every immigrant or refugee group in America has had to embrace or reject. We talk with two scholars in the field of Whiteness Studies, Nell Irvin Painter and Eric Goldstein, about how understanding the construction of white identity in this polyglot country gives us keen insights into its troubled racial history.
MUSIC CREDITS
Turning to You by Blue Dot Sessions
Our Only Lark by Blue Dot Sessions
Heather by Blue Dot Sessions
A Certain Lightness by Blue Dot Sessions
The Crisper by Blue Dot Sessions
Throughput by Blue Dot Sessions
Pukae by Blue Dot Sessions
Four and Fourteen by Blue Dot Sessions
The Longshoreman by Blue Dot Sessions
Ewa Valley by Blue Dot Sessions
Careless Morning by Blue Dot Sessions
Morning Glare by Blue Dot Sessions
Lick Stick by Blue Dot Sessions