HI3J9-30 Whiteness: An American History
Introductory description
In this Advanced Option module, students will critically engage with the concept of “whiteness” in the United States from theoretical, social, and cultural perspectives.
Module aims
We will discuss how whiteness has been constructed as a means of opposition, domination and control of “others” (especially African Americans) from the antebellum period to the present. We will chart how the definition of whiteness has changed over time to include or exclude certain groups, and we will delineate the distinctions, tensions, and connections between “white supremacy,” “white nationalism,” “white privilege,” and other structures of white power. In doing so, we will analyse how violence has been used to uphold white supremacy, the intersections between whiteness, class, and gender, and the role of popular culture in constructing white identity and perpetuating white privilege. The module will draw upon both the lived experience of “white” people and the writings of people of colour in order to enable students to analyse the role of whiteness as both personal identity and socio-political force. Although the module focuses predominantly on the United States, students will be encouraged to draw upon their learning in other modules to bring comparative perspectives to their understandings of whiteness.
Outline syllabus
This is an indicative module outline only to give an indication of the sort of topics that may be covered. Actual sessions held may differ.
Term One
Introductions
Week 1: Why Studying Whiteness Matters - Whiteness in contemporary America: e.g. the “alt-right”; populism and the 2016 election; immigration debates; All Lives Matter; #OscarsSoWhite
Week 2: What is Whiteness? - Theoretical perspectives on the constructions of whiteness, white supremacy, white nationalism and white privilege
Block A: Creating Whiteness: The White Working Class
Week 3: The Wages of Whiteness - Class and race in the 19th century, working class culture, minstrelsy
Week 4: Poor White Trash - race and class in antebellum South; lived experience of poor whites; relationships with slaves and slaveholders
Week 5: Whiteness of a Different Colour - immigration and “ethnic” whiteness, Jewish Americans, Eastern Europeans, Irish Americans
Week 6: Reading Week
Block B: Maintaining Whiteness: Violence and Terror
Week 7: Segregation, North and South - how segregation developed differently in North and South; voter suppression, redlining, etc. Everyday violence as underpinning political and legal strategies of oppression
Week 8: The Ku Klux Klan(s) - Development of four main phases of the KKK and 100% Americanism, their role in politics, violence, segregation.
Week 9: Lynching - Community building role, economic and racial motivations; photography
Week 10: Church Bombings and Burnings - Church targeted as site of black resistance in 1960s and 1990s; whiteness and religion
Term Two
Block C: Defending Whiteness: White Womanhood
Week 1: All the Women are White - suffrage movement and exclusion; Whiteness and 2nd wave feminism
Week 2: Women of the Klan - History of WKKK and womens’ role as defenders of white supremacy – UDC and maintenance of Jim Crow
Week 3: Rape and the Rape Myth - how rape myth was constructed to control white women while rape used to control black women; history of fear of miscegenation
Week 4: Student Presentations (formative assignment 2)
Week 5: Student Presentations (formative assignment 2)
Week 6: Reading Week
Block D: Imagining Whiteness: Whiteness in American culture
Week 7: Representing Whiteness - whiteness in literature, art and culture
Week 8: Screen Saviours - whiteness in historical film, e.g. Birth of a Nation, Amistad, Mississippi Burning, The Help
Week 9: The White Image in the Black Mind - black perspectives on whiteness (Morrison, Baldwin, Yancy, etc.)
Week 10: Conclusions & Comparative Perspectives - global context, especially UK, South Africa, Latin America, as well as revisiting broader themes
Learning outcomes
By the end of the module, students should be able to:
- Demonstrate a systematic knowledge and understanding of the history of the social construction of whiteness in the United States
- Critically analyse and evaluate a broad range of primary sources relating to whiteness as both a personal identity and a socio-political force
- Effectively communicate ideas, and make informed, coherent and persuasive arguments, relating to the history of whiteness in the United States
- Critically review and consolidate theoretical, methodological, and historiographical ideas relating to whiteness and its role in American history and society
- Take responsibility to identify, design, and produce a coherent project on whiteness, white supremacy, white nationalism and/or white privilege
Indicative reading list
Reading lists can be found in Talis
Specific reading list for the module
Subject specific skills
See learning outcomes.
Transferable skills
See learning outcomes.
Study time
| Type | Required |
|---|---|
| Seminars | 18 sessions of 2 hours (12%) |
| Tutorials | 4 sessions of 1 hour (1%) |
| Private study | 260 hours (87%) |
| Total | 300 hours |
Private study description
History modules require students to undertake extensive independent research and reading to prepare for seminars and assessments. As a rough guide, students will be expected to read and prepare to comment on three substantial texts (articles or book chapters) for each seminar taking approximately 3 hours. Each assessment requires independent research, reading around 6-10 texts and writing and presenting the outcomes of this preparation in an essay, review, presentation or other related task.
Costs
No further costs have been identified for this module.
You must pass all assessment components to pass the module.
Assessment group A1
| Weighting | Study time | Eligible for self-certification | |
|---|---|---|---|
Assessment component |
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| Seminar contribution | 10% | No | |
Reassessment component |
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| 1000 word reflection | Yes (extension) | ||
Assessment component |
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| 1500 word essay | 10% | Yes (extension) | |
Reassessment component is the same |
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Assessment component |
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| 3000 word applied history assignment | 40% | No | |
Reassessment component |
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| 3000 word applied history assignment | Yes (extension) | ||
Assessment component |
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| 3000 word essay | 40% | Yes (extension) | |
Reassessment component is the same |
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Feedback on assessment
Written feedback provided via Tabula; optional oral feedback in office hours.
Courses
This module is Optional for:
- Year 3 of UENA-VQ32 Undergraduate English and History
This module is Option list A for:
- Year 3 of UHIA-V100 Undergraduate History
- Year 4 of UHIA-V101 Undergraduate History (with Year Abroad)
This module is Option list B for:
- Year 3 of UHIA-V1V5 Undergraduate History and Philosophy
- Year 4 of UHIA-V1V6 Undergraduate History and Philosophy (with Year Abroad)
- Year 3 of UHIA-VM11 Undergraduate History and Politics
- Year 4 of UHIA-VM12 Undergraduate History and Politics (with Year Abroad)
- Year 3 of UHIA-VL13 Undergraduate History and Sociology
- Year 4 of UHIA-VL14 Undergraduate History and Sociology (with Year Abroad)