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White Innocence: Paradoxes of Colonialism and Race
Gloria Wekker
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Description for White Innocence: Paradoxes of Colonialism and Race
Hardback. In White Innocence Gloria Wekker explores a central paradox of Dutch life-the passionate denial of racial discrimination and colonial violence coexisting alongside aggressive racism and xenophobia-to show how the narrative of Dutch racial exceptionalism elides the Netherland's colonial past and safeguards white privilege. Num Pages: 240 pages, 2 photographs. BIC Classification: 1DD; HBJD1; JFSL1; JHMC. Category: (G) General (US: Trade). Dimension: 160 x 238 x 19. Weight in Grams: 488.
In White Innocence Gloria Wekker explores a central paradox of Dutch culture: the passionate denial of racial discrimination and colonial violence coexisting alongside aggressive racism and xenophobia. Accessing a cultural archive built over 400 years of Dutch colonial rule, Wekker fundamentally challenges Dutch racial exceptionalism by undermining the dominant narrative of the Netherlands as a "gentle" and "ethical" nation. Wekker analyzes the Dutch media's portrayal of black women and men, the failure to grasp race in the Dutch academy, contemporary conservative politics (including gay politicians espousing anti-immigrant rhetoric), and the controversy surrounding the folkloric character Black Pete, showing how the denial of racism and the expression of innocence safeguards white privilege. Wekker uncovers the postcolonial legacy of race and its role in shaping the white Dutch self, presenting the contested, persistent legacy of racism in the country.
Product Details
Format
Hardback
Publication date
2016
Publisher
Duke University Press
Condition
New
Number of Pages
240
Place of Publication
North Carolina, United States
ISBN
9780822360599
SKU
V9780822360599
Shipping Time
Usually ships in 7 to 11 working days
Ref
99-50
About Gloria Wekker
Gloria Wekker is Professor Emeritus of Gender Studies at Utrecht University and the author of several books, including The Politics of Passion: Women's Sexual Culture in the Afro-Surinamese Diaspora.
Reviews for White Innocence: Paradoxes of Colonialism and Race
"White Innocence explains why white Dutch people seem unable to grasp the racism of Zwarte Piet: Assured of their own social progressivism, they can a priori think and therefore do no wrong. . . . Wekker concludes her work with a plea for 'another "embarrassment of riches,"' for acknowledging the racism staring us in the face. In the United States, we might start by recognizing that there is, and always has been, no more audacious identity politics than white identity politics, as Trump and his white-supremacist ilk gleefully demonstrate. At least the illusion of innocence has been stripped away. Or perhaps not?"
Nick Barr Clingan
The Nation
"White Innocence exposes how Dutch racism is infused with classism, sexism, and homophobia in discussions of everyday racism that includes [Wekker's] own personal exoticization as a child and criminalization as an adult, TV talk shows and films, experiences of mixed-race families, white gay liberation that constitutes Dutch homonationalism . . . and the 'siloing' of gender and race/ethnicity in politics and academics that makes intersectional policy and scholarship impossible. In doing so, Wekker reveals the very real personal consequences for people of color when their very existence is in service of white people."
Melissa F. Weiner
Journal of Anthropological Research
"White Innocence provides a welcome and thought-provoking impetus to think more acutely about the long-term impacts of imperialism, as well as about the interrelations between colonies and metropole."
Bart Luttikhuis
History: Reviews of New Books
"White Innocence makes a significant contribution to the field of critical whiteness studies by examining the role of race, especially whiteness, and the legacy of colonialism in the present-day Netherlands."
Shannon Sullivan
philoSOPHIA
"White Innocence is an enticing invitation to confront the contradictions of Dutch discourse on race, colonialism and violence. . . . Wekker’s work is of vital relevance for those willing to unlearn the legacy of colonialism."
Lucía Berro Pizzarossa
European Journal of Women's Studies
"This book has been a long time coming. . . . An exemplary work of critical scholarship."
Paul Mepschen
Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute
Nick Barr Clingan
The Nation
"White Innocence exposes how Dutch racism is infused with classism, sexism, and homophobia in discussions of everyday racism that includes [Wekker's] own personal exoticization as a child and criminalization as an adult, TV talk shows and films, experiences of mixed-race families, white gay liberation that constitutes Dutch homonationalism . . . and the 'siloing' of gender and race/ethnicity in politics and academics that makes intersectional policy and scholarship impossible. In doing so, Wekker reveals the very real personal consequences for people of color when their very existence is in service of white people."
Melissa F. Weiner
Journal of Anthropological Research
"White Innocence provides a welcome and thought-provoking impetus to think more acutely about the long-term impacts of imperialism, as well as about the interrelations between colonies and metropole."
Bart Luttikhuis
History: Reviews of New Books
"White Innocence makes a significant contribution to the field of critical whiteness studies by examining the role of race, especially whiteness, and the legacy of colonialism in the present-day Netherlands."
Shannon Sullivan
philoSOPHIA
"White Innocence is an enticing invitation to confront the contradictions of Dutch discourse on race, colonialism and violence. . . . Wekker’s work is of vital relevance for those willing to unlearn the legacy of colonialism."
Lucía Berro Pizzarossa
European Journal of Women's Studies
"This book has been a long time coming. . . . An exemplary work of critical scholarship."
Paul Mepschen
Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute