Blogging Class

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What Does It Mean To Be White?

Whiteness theory is based upon principles of privilege and is evident in multiple discourses. To truly understand whiteness theory is to understand yourself, and how you view yourself within various cultural contexts.


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What are you?

What is my white culture?

I am a firm believer that what you achieve, you earn. I believe in education, working hard, and the 'rags to
riches" folklore of my culture. I'm afraid I am best reflected in some of the mass media (does TV best
represent the White culture?). Things that are part of the mainstream are part of me.

I also have a language (English), an expectation of material comfort, financial reward for hard work, and lots
of First World vices (over-eating, too much consumption of fuel and natural resources, technology etc.). Like
the mainstream culture, I believe in God, in the importance of religion, in the importance of democracy and
living an ethical, self-actualized, "free" life.

Jean McPherron
---- Msg sent via @=WebMail - http://webmail.usu.edu/

Assignment

I am a white male from an underprivileged background. I have worked very hard through meritocracy to establish privilege. I had to go to great extents to access post-high school education. The only way I could get through a Bachelor's Degree is by serving in the military. The only way I could get a Master's Degree is by moving my family in to live with my mother-in-law for a year. Whiteness gave me some advantages, but I had to open many of the doors myself. As the only one of eight children in my family to go beyond an associates degree, I can see how limiting access to upper education has been in my family history.

I am primarily of Danish and English decent, but this does not fully describe my racial identity. I have a greater understanding and a greater connection with my Daish ancestry. My family still includes some Danish cultural practices in our family culture. I really don't have a big connection to my English ancestry.

I also have some German ancestry. I served a German LDS mission and teach German for a living, so I am much more connected with this part of my ancestry than any other--even though it is a smaller percentage of my ancestry.

More than any of these examples, however, I am a member of my family, and we have develped our own cultural practices and behaviors. My ideolect and my personal culture must be understood first in terms of my family then my profession and then my ancestry.

What am I?

I am white, among many other things. Being white means that I have been
born into a particular race, with a particular culture and a particular
set of values, codes and mores.

Whiteness

If someone were to ask me "what are you?", my first response would be to ask
for further clarification:

But some possible responses would be:

* Child of God
* Member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints
* Father
* Husband
* Seminary teacher
* Doctoral student
* Bishopric counselor
* A man
* A Human

Etc. etc.

Honestly, I can say that I can think of a whole lot of things I would say
before my race came up...

Ryan S. Gardner

I am Jackson Brown listening, running fool who despite this assignment's
evidence to the contrary loves to write about the world he lives in.

Multi-Personalities

What Am I?
Wife, Mom, Gramma, Daughter, Sister, Professor of Business, Graduate student
of Education, Sunday school teacher, Enabler, Facilitator

What does It Mean To Be White?
To have access to means and methods to do whatever I want for all these
roles - access to technology, financial markets, people support,
comforts, etc.

-Deb-

whiteness stuff

What are you? White male
What does it mean to be white? It means I can go almost anywhere and do almost anything (legal) as long as I can afford it. I came by this priviledge by birth and have not control over it. I just take adavantage of it. This privilege can be used to weild any power that I see fit to use it for.

I'm being the devil's advocate here but it's something to think about

What am I?

I am a product of white privilege who has been influenced by her mother's egalitarian attitudes. I have deliberately checked out of my privilege.

 

What does it mean to be white?

• privilege
• power
• responsibility
• fear
• confusion
• security
• opportunity

I am a privileged white male

I am a formerly clueless privileged white male, who has taken advantage of my privilege (although sometimes unconsciously). Living in Utah, I have also taken advantage of the "privilege" from being a member of a predominant religion, using code words in my resume' that I know the decision maker will recognize as I apply for jobs. I'm pathetic.

white

I am a white female of English descent. I look at myself culturally in
terms of religous belif and practicee more than my skin color. I am now
sure how I would describe what it means to be white.

Tracy

Cyberwhiteness

“In contrast to the commonly accepted idea of technology as inherently neutral and the Internet as a site of democracy and revolutionary social perspectives, technologically facilitated spaces may well be the newest forms of white havens… where a dramatic effort to protect and project whiteness as a normative pervasive cultural practice can be enacted and recovered.” (Carter, p. 271-272)

The Worksheet That Keeps On Growing

In the coming weeks, take a few minutes and watch the following video clips. Evaluate whiteness in the context of the information presented. Post your thoughts as comments to this post.