White People

White people are too often invisible when it comes to having a race. In this course we will examine the formation of whiteness as an always present if often ignored, racial category, that came ashore with the Pilgrims. We will explore how whiteness became a foundational category for citizenship after the Civil War, when the Color Line was drawn through legal, cultural, and spatial practices. Finally, we will look at the formation of whiteness as a site of privilege, aggrieved entitlement, and even a category of "trash" in the more recent past. We will also situate whiteness, like all racial categories, as entangled with class, gender, sexuality, and nationality. (Not open to students who have taken FYSE 1357) 3 hrs. sem.