White identity is in ferment. White, European Americans living in the
United States will soon share an unprecedented experience of slipping
below 50% of the population. The impending demographic shifts are
already felt in most urban centers and the effect is a national
backlash of hyper-mobilized political, and sometimes violent,
activism with a stated aim that is simultaneously vague and deadly
clear: 'to take our country back.' Meanwhile the spectre of 'minority
status' draws closer, and the material advantages of being born white
are eroding.
This is the
political and cultural reality tackled by Linda Martín Alcoff in The
Future of Whiteness. She argues that whiteness is here to stay,
at least for a while, but that half of whites have given up on ideas
of white supremacy, and the shared public, material culture is more
integrated than ever. More and more, whites are becoming aware of how
they appear to non-whites, both at home and abroad, and this is
having profound effects on white identity in North America. The young
generation of whites today, as well as all those who follow, will
have never known a country in which they could take white identity as
the unchallenged default that dominates the political, economic and
cultural leadership. Change is on the horizon, and the most important
battleground is among white people themselves.
The Future of
Whiteness makes no predictions but astutely analyzes the present
reaction and evaluates the current signs of turmoil. Beautifully
written and cogently argued, the book looks set to spark debate in
the field and to illuminate an important area of racial politics.