SC303.01: The Social Construction of Whiteness
Spring 2012, McGuinn 400
Mondays 3:00-5:30 p.m.
Prof. Deborah Piatelli
millerdp@bc.edu
McGuinn 425
Office hours: Thursdays 1:00-3:00 pm
Course Description
This discussion-based seminar course explores the social construction of race through the lens of
whiteness. Why talk about whiteness? Contrary to popular belief that we are now living in a
post-racial society, systemic racial discrimination and inequality persists. By considering
whiteness as both a race and historical system of privilege, we can gain a deeper understanding
of the persistence of racism that can better inform our strategies to end it. Over the course of the
semester, we will draw upon the work of critical race scholars and examine the distribution of
privilege within American society at both the interpersonal and institutional levels, as well as
consider how whiteness operates within the social constructs of class and gender. Through
writing and in-class group discussion in both small and larger groups, you will examine your
own identities and lived experiences and consider how consciously or unconsciously they are
affected by these processes, as well as consider strategies for challenging racism and privilege at
the individual and structural levels. Since this course deals with topics that are emotional at a gut
level, it is important that we respect and listen to each other’s views. I try to encourage and
maintain a classroom dynamic that is conducive to honest, open discussion. Although these
topics may be uncomfortable to talk about, it is important to realize that we can learn a great deal
from each other through active listening and dialoguing. Therefore classroom participation is a
mandatory requirement for this course.
Course Objectives
*Gain a deeper understanding of the historical relationship between white privilege and
inequality.
*Be able to clearly define and differentiate the concepts of prejudice and racism.
*Describe privilege and racism in its individual and institutional forms in contemporary society.
*Identify and articulate your personal feelings, fears, attitudes and behaviors about the issues of
privilege and racism by exploring your own experiences and identity development.
*Conduct a mini-sociological research project on how whiteness operates in everyday discourse.
*Develop specific strategies designed to challenge racism on individual and structural levels
through an action project focused on racial justice.
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Course Requirements
Class participation (25% of your grade)
Class participation is required, as much of the learning will take place in the classroom through
participation in class discussions. It is expected that when you are in class you will participate.
Students are expected to come to each class session having completed the assigned readings and
prepared to discuss the material. I will take note of the frequency of your participation as well as
absences and lateness as this has an effect on group discussion.
Four (4) Reflection Papers (15% of your grade)
I am asking that you submit a reflection paper to me at the end of each week as noted on the
syllabus (for a total of 4 reflection papers). Note that the frequency of these papers will decrease
as you begin to write your thematic papers (see below for a description of those papers). These
papers should be a maximum of three (3), double-spaced pages and emailed to me no later than
Thursday at 4:00 p.m. for the week they are due. See Blackboard for a further description of
these papers.
Three (3) Thematic Papers (40% of your grade)
I am asking you to complete three (3) short papers on a particular theme discussed in class.
These papers are more formal than the reflection papers and MUST draw on the readings from
the course syllabus in a more detailed manner. See Blackboard for further descriptions on these
assignments including approximate page length requirements.
Thematic paper #1 Historical Memories of Race (10%)
Thematic paper #2 Racial Identity Development (10%)
Thematic paper #3 Observing and Analyzing Racetalk (20%)
Due Monday, February 27
Due Monday, March 26
Due Monday, April 9
Action Project and Presentation (20% of your grade)
We will discuss possible ideas for action projects and expectations on the content and format of
your presentation to the class. See Blackboard for further guidelines on this assignment.
Required Texts (available in bookstore and on reserve)
*Lehr, Dick. (2009). The fence: A police cover-up along Boston’s racial divide. New York:
HarperCollins Publishers. (PLEASE READ ENTIRE BOOK BY APRIL 2nd)
*Rothenberg, Paula S. (2008). White privilege: Essential readings on the other side of racism.
Third edition. New York: Worth Publishers.
*Tatum, Beverly Daniel. (2003). Why are all the black kids sitting together in the cafeteria? New
York: Basic Books.
*Trepagnier, Barbara. (2006). Silent racism: How well-meaning white people perpetuate the
racial divide. Boulder, Colo.: Paradigm Publishers. (Bookstore has 2nd edition, but 1st edition is
fine)
*Wise, Tim. (2011). White like me: Reflections on race from a privileged son. Berkeley, Calif.:
Soft Skull Press. (PLEASE READ ENTIRE BOOK BY FEBRUARY 27. (Bookstore has 3rd
edition, but any edition is fine.)
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Course Policies
Late work. If you have extenuating circumstances, you must come see me BEFORE the due date
to discuss a possible extension. With appropriate documentation, late papers without penalties
will be accepted. Otherwise, you will lose 5 points each day the assignment is late.
A note on academic integrity
Sharing of information and ideas are encouraged. However, when working on individual
assignments, it is expected that you do your own work. In cases where you are required to use
published work, you must cite the work. If you plagiarize or cheat in some other form, you will
fail the assignment; repeated episodes will result in failure of the course. If there are any
questions on proper method of citing or questions of what constitutes plagiarism please see me.
For more information on Boston College’s academic integrity policy, please visit:
www.bc.edu/offices/stserv/academic/resources/policy/#integrity.
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Course Schedule
Monday, January 23
How do we talk constructively about race?
Reflection Due Thursday
Readings:
* Tatum, Chapter 2 (The complexity of identity)
* Tatum, Chapter 10 (Embracing a cross-racial dialogue)
I: THEORIZING RACE AND WHITENESS
Monday, January 30
Why study race and whiteness?
The social construction of race
Reflection Due Thursday
Readings:
* Bonilla-Silva, Eduardo. (2007). “Racialized social systems approach to racism.”
Pp. 46-55 in Rethinking the color line: Readings in race and ethnicity, edited by
Charles A. Gallagher. Second Edition. LIBRARY RESERVE
* DuBois, W.E.B. (1920). “The souls of white folk.” Pp. 17-29 in Darkwater: Voices
from within the veil. LIBRARY RESERVE
* Omi, Michael and Howard Winant. (2007). “Racial formations.” Pp. 21-28 in
Rethinking the color line: Readings in race and ethnicity, edited by Charles A.
Gallagher. Second Edition. LIBRARY RESERVE
* Rothenberg, Introduction; Chapter 1 in Part one (Richard Dyer, The matter of
whiteness)
* Wellman, David. (1993). “Introduction to the second edition.” Pp. 1-26 in
Portraits of white racism. Second Edition. LIBRARY RESERVE
* Wilson, William Julius. (1980). “From racial oppression to economic class
subordination.” Pp. 1-23 in The declining significance of race. Second Edition.
LIBRARY RESERVE
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Monday, February 6
Researching race
Historical constructions of whiteness
Reflection Due Thursday
Film in class: Race: The Power of an Illusion, Episode 2: The Story We Tell
Reading:
* Gallagher, Charles A. (2008). “The end of racism as the new doxa: New strategies
for researching race.” Pp. 163-178 in White logic, white methods: Racism and
methodology, edited by Tukufu Zuberi and Eduardo Bonilla-Silva. LIBRARY
RESERVE
* Horsman, Reginald. (1997). “Race and manifest destiny: The origins of American
racial Anglo-Saxonism.” Pp. 139-144 in Critical white studies: Looking behind the
mirror, edited by Richard Delgago and Jean Stefancic. LIBRARY RESERVE
* Rothenberg, Chapter 7 in Part two (Charles Mills, Global white supremacy)
Monday, February 13
Historical constructions of whiteness (continued)
Fluidity of whiteness
Reflection Due Thursday
Readings:
* Abdulrahim, Sawsan. (2008). “ ‘Whiteness’ and the Arab immigrant experience.” Pp.
131-146 in Race and Arab Americans before and after 911: From invisible citizens
to visible subjects, edited by Amaney Jamal & Nadine Naber. LIBRARY
RESERVE
* Huntington, Samuel P. (2004). “Forward.” Pp. xv-xvii and “Components of American
identity.” Pp. 37-58 in Who are we? The challenges to America’s national identity.
LIBRARY RESERVE
* Yancey, George. (2003). “How to become white.” Pp. 27-62 in Who is white?
Latinos, Asians, and the new Black/Nonblack divide. LIBRARY RESERVE
Monday, February 20
Prejudice, racism and privilege
Film in class: Tim Wise on White Privilege: Racism, White Denial & the Costs of
Inequality
Readings:
* Kivel, Paul. (2002). “Part V: Fighting institutional racism.” Pp. 172-218 in
Uprooting racism: How white people can work for racial justice. Revised Edition.
LIBRARY RESERVE
* Rothenberg, Chapter 3 in Part three (Peggy McIntosh, White privilege)
* Tatum, Chapter 1 (Defining racism)
* Trepagnier, Chapter 1 (Rethinking racism) and Chapter 4 (The production of
institutional racism)
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Monday, February 27
Heterogeneity of whiteness
Thematic Paper #1 Due
Readings: CHOOSE TWINE OR WING
* Gallagher, Charles. A. (2003). “White reconstruction in the university.” Pp. 299-318
in Privilege: A reader, edited by Michael Kimmel and Abby Ferber. LIBRARY
RESERVE
* Ignatiev, Noel. (1997). “The point is not to interpret whiteness, but to abolish it.”
BLACKBOARD
* Twine, France Winddance. (1999). “Brown skinned white girls: Class, culture, and
the construction of white identity in suburban communities.” Pp. 214-243 in
Displacing whiteness: Essays in social and cultural criticism, edited by Ruth
Frankenberg. LIBRARY RESERVE
* Wing, Jean Yonemura. (2007). “Beyond black and white: The model minority
myth and the invisibility of Asian American students.” The Urban Review, V39,
4:455-487. LIBRARY RESERVE
* Wise, Tim. Entire book
SPRING BREAK- NO CLASS MARCH 5
II.
RACISM AND PRIVILEGE IN EVERYDAY LIFE
Monday, March 12
Exploring our racial identities
Readings:
* Tatum, Part II (Understanding blackness in a white context, all chapters); Part III
(Understanding whiteness in a white context, Chapter 6); Part IV (Beyond black
and white, all chapters)
* Trepagnier, Chapter 5 (Race awareness matters)
Additional Suggested Readings:
* Lee, Leah. (2007). “Korea is my heart and soul, America is my mind and spirit.” Pp.
108-122 in Balancing two worlds: Asian American college students tell their life
stories, edited by Andrew Garrod and Robert Kilkenny. LIBRARY RESERVE
* Renn, Kristen. (2000). “Patterns of situational identity among biracial and
multiracial college students.” The review of higher education, 23, 4, 399-420.
LIBRARY RESERVE
* Rodriguez, Clara E., Castro, Aida, Garcia, Oscar, and Torres, Analisa. (1991).
“Latino racial identity: In the eye of the beholder?” Latino Studies Journal, 3, 3348. LIBRARY RESERVE
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Monday, March 19
White talk/Race talk
Whiteness, interracial relationships and the family
Readings:
* Bonilla-Silva, Eduardo. (2006). “The central frames of color-blind racism.” Pp.
25-52 and “The style of color blindness: How to talk nasty about minorities
without sounding racist.” Pp. 53-74 in Racism without racists: Colorblind racism
and the persistence of racial inequality in the United States. Second Edition.
LIBRARY RESERVE
* Feagin, Joe, and Eileen O’Brien. (2003). “Issues of interracial dating and marriage.”
Pp. 131-154 in White men on race: Power, privilege and the shaping of cultural
consciousness. LIBRARY RESERVE
* Simpson, Jennifer S. (1996). “Easy talk, white talk, back talk: Some reflections
on the meanings of our words.” Journal of Contemporary Ethnography, 25, no.
3:372-389. LIBRARY RESERVE
* Tatum, Beverly Daniel. (2007). “What kind of friendship is that? The search for
authenticity, mutuality, and social transformation in cross-racial relationships
Pp. 83-104 in Can we talk about race? LIBRARY RESERVE
* Trepagnier, Chapter 2 (Silent racism)
Monday, March 26
Whiteness on the college campus
Thematic Paper #2 Due
Film in class: Some Place I Call Home: Racism on the Trinity College Campus
Readings:
* Feagin, Joe. R. (1992). “The continuing significance of racism: Discrimination
against black students in white colleges.” Journal of Black Studies, 22: no. 4:546578. LIBRARY RESERVE
* Hurtado, Sylvia, Jeffrey Milem, Alma Clayton-Pedersen, and Walter Allen. (1999).
“Enacting diverse learning environments: Improving the climate for racial/ethnic
civersity in higher education.” Pp. 89-110. ASHE-ERIC Higher Education Report,
V26, no. 8. LIBRARY RESERVE
* Rothenberg, Chapter 3 in Part four (Paul Kivel, How white people can serve as
allies to people of color in the struggle to end racism)
* Trepagnier, Chapter 6 (Antiracist practice)
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Monday, April 2
Whiteness and racial profiling
Action Project Update Due
Readings:
* Lehr, Dick. Entire book
Monday, April 9
Whiteness and affirmative action
Whiteness and the educational system
Thematic Paper #3 Due
Readings:
* Easton, Susan E. (2001). “The other Boston busing story.” Pp. 1-24 and “City life
and suburban schools.” Pp. 218-258 in The other Boston busing story: What’s won
and lost across the boundary line. LIBRARY RESERVE
* Feagin, Joe, and Eileen O’Brien. (2003). Views on public policy: Affirmative
action.” Pp. 189-225 in White men on race: Power, privilege and the shaping of
cultural consciousness. LIBRARY RESERVE
* Lewis, Amanda E. and Michelle J. Manno. (2011). “The best education for some:
Race and schooling in the United States today.” Pp. 93-109 in State of white
supremacy: Racism, governance and the United States, edited by Moon-Kie Jung,
Joao H. Costa Vargas, and Eduardo Bonilla-Silva. LIBRARY RESERVE
* Tatum, Part III (Understanding whiteness in a white context, Chapter 7)
* Williams, Walter E. and Clarence Page. (1999). “Has affirmative action outlived its
usefulness?” Pp. 168-186 in Taking sides: Clashing views on controversial social
issues, edited by Kurt Finsterbusch. Tenth edition. LIBRARY RESERVE
MARATHON MONDAY – NO CLASS APRIL 16
Monday, April 23
Presentations
Monday, April 30
Presentations
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