As Long As You Think You're White...

Shawna Hanel, Boise State University

Abstract

This body of work encourages white people to recognize that their histories, perspectives, and experiences are not those of humanity, but rather those of white humanity; while simultaneously exposing the falsity of inherent whiteness. In other words, the exhibit and web site provide a space for white people to perceive their whiteness in the contexts of socialization, material culture, and economic location; and then to begin to disavow it within their attitudes, behaviors, and identities. Recognizing and disavowing whiteness concurrently may appear contradictory. Both are strategies necessary for the creation of white identities capable of acknowledging the gross historical injustices carried out in their names and accepting ongoing culpability in the maintenance of historical inequalities, without becoming paralyzed by guilt.