[KS] Re: the "white males" question

[michael Robinson]

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Dear Yuh Ji:

Thank you for an even more detailed re-hash of "whiteness" and its
soci-political meanings.  My point remains that if this is the level of
critique applied to every use of a category, then we will all remain
wallowing in introductory sessions on language and the difference between
the biological fact of whiteness and its social/political/historical
construction that could be used in different contexts.  the medium itself is
useless (this list) if everyone is to be explaining every use.  And now who
are the policemen?  My point was simply that the original charge nullified
the personal sincerity of its writer and was as offensive as any possible
slight given in useage of language.  The fact that the majority of the list
didn't react can mean they understood the general meaning delivered.  Most
of the people on this list have devoted a great deal of their lives to
understanding difference and teaching about difference.  the search is for
ways to nullify the universalizing or totalizing tendencies embedded in all
culture.  Because Western culture for whatever historical reasons ended up
shoving its universal vision down the throats of the world doesn't mean
other cultures don't have their universalizing or totalizing potentials
either.  The way toward the true cultural interchange must follow the
broader ideas that are certainly embedded in Eastern as well as Western
culture...respect or all, open mindedness, tolerance, a spirit of
cooperation, etc.  That is what will generate understanding and better ideas
on the list, not jumping on each other about language difference.  seeking a
way toward multiculturalism our colleague Uchang Kim quotes  Hans-Georg
Gadamer from Truth and Method (1982)..."To seek one's own in the alien, to
become at home in it, is the basic movement of spiriti, whose being is only
return to itself from what is other."  see his wonderful article in Poetica
52 (1999) "Asian Suibjectivity and Multiculturalism."

----- Original Message -----
From: Yuh Ji-Yeon <j-yuh at northwestern.edu>
To: <korean-studies at iic.edu>
Sent: Saturday, October 21, 2000 1:48 PM
Subject: Re: the "white males" question


> At 05:02 ¿ÀÈÄ 00-10-19 -0500, you wrote:
> >
> >Dear Ms. Oum:
> >
> >thank you for the bibliography, but I'm not that behind on things as we
> >have
> >reconstructed our categories.  However, the point remains if that is
> >what
> >you meant, then use it, but mark it.
>
> michael,
>
> perhaps i misunderstand you, but if you are not that behind on things and
> therefore, as you imply, you don't really need to peruse the readings that
> young rae suggested, then why did you post a question that indicated an
> unawareness  on your part of the social construction "white males" and the
> way that term is used to refer to particular positions of privilege
> afforded by gender and race? someone familiar with "white males" as a
> social construction and the recent theoretical work on that question would
> have recognized young rae's usage of the term as something other than a
> "common and undifferentiated sobriquet" and would have asked a much
> different question about her usage of it.
>
> and if the term "white male" disturbed you so much, then surely other
terms
> that might also be taken as "common and undifferentiated sobriquets" would
> disturb you equally. so why was there no similar questioning of the use of
> the terms "korean men" or "korean boys" or "korean people" in previous
posts?
>
> In the heat of such
> >exchanges
> >qualification would be helpful to de-personalize such issues.
>
> how does the use of the term "white males" personalize issues?
>
> best,
> ji-yeon
>
> p.s. i would add to young rae's suggestions "the possessive investment in
> whiteness" by george lipsitz. it points out that, for instance, that now
> that "whiteness" is being analyzed as a category and a social
construction,
> those who are white often resist analysis as a way to protect the
> privileges associated with being white, and that many also feel attacked
> and undermined simply because it is being pointed out to them that
> whiteness confers privileges and implicates them in a history and a social
> system that has brought about and maintains those privileges at the
expense
> of others, namely people of color. the retreat is often into
individualism:
> "what, little ole me? i don't have anything to do with racism and white
> privilege or gender privilege, i'm just one little ole ordinary guy
> struggling to get along and i always get blamed for everything these days
> just for being a white male. it's awful hard these days to be a white
> male." at other times, the reaction is similar to that embodied in the
> movie "falling down": "what do you mean white male privilege? all our jobs
> are being taken away by asians and other foreigners, their kids get into
> all the good schools, and it's not fair. they're the ones with all the
> privilege."
>
> we are all implicated in the power structures within which we live, and we
> are all much more than mere individuals. we have a responsibility to
> understood our positions as members of various and varied communities --
> including those that are defined by race, nationality, ethnicity, gender
> and so forth. it is, in a sense, irresponsible to negate one's identity as
> a white male (or a white female, or a korean male or a korean female, etc.
> etc.) and what that means given history and current social systems. this
is
> not to say that we are nothing more than that identity, but to say that
> that particular identity -- as understood and used and constructed and
> contested -- is certainly a factor -- often a very important factor -- in
> who we are and the lives we are able to live.
>
>
>
> Department of History, Northwestern University, Harris Hall 202
> 1881 Sheridan Road, Evanston, IL 60208 U.S.A.
> office: 1-847-467-6538  dept: 1-847-491-3406  fax: 1-847-467-1393
> email: j-yuh at northwestern.edu