White Racial Confusion and the Problems of the Colorblind: A Typology Drawn from Ethnographic Data

• In Event: 218 - Regular Session. Race/Ethnicity: Challenging Concepts and Categories

Abstract

I discuss what I see as the two major points of intellectual convergence (consensus is too strong a word) around the notions of white privilege and colorblindness. I elaborate on the intellectual and pedagogical utility of these concepts, acknowledging the virtues of their parsimonious and compelling explanations for the persistence and deepening of racial inequality in a post- discrimination society. I then turn to the limitations of these concepts as currently formulated, noting both their over-general nature and the lack of clear empirical support for the validity of the concepts. I conclude that what is needed is a rigorous theoretical framework for generating more accurate hypotheses and more accurate empirical research.
To this end, I make the modest proposal that boundary theory can serve as a model theoretical framework for a new generation of whiteness studies. I briefly explain the elements of this approach and I highlight recent research on whiteness that deploys boundary theory to press claims about the complex and contested nature of whiteness at different historical moments and in different national contexts.

Author

• Matt Wray, Temple University