White People

White people are often invisible when it comes to having a race. In this course we will begin by considering the formation of whiteness in post-Civil War America. We will read histories of whiteness, such as Grace Elizabeth Hale's Making Whiteness and David Roediger’s The Wages of Whiteness, as well as consider important milestones in whiteness, from the films Birth of a Nation and Gone with the Wind to the blog "What White People Like." Finally we will use essays, blogs, photographs, and videos to make white people at Middlebury visible by documenting how they represent themselves through belief systems, language, dress, and rituals. 3 hrs. sem.