CALL FOR PAPERS: What’s White Got to Do with It?: Teaching
Whiteness; Roundtable Discussion at the Northeast Modern Language
Association, Buffalo, NY, April 7-8, 2000.
UPDATE: extended deadline to 9/22; also note that I am planning to tape
and transcribe this roundtable for submission to Modern Language Studies
as part of a possible special issue on whiteness.
Numerous historical and sociological studies have been published in the
1990s about the ways in which whiteness has been constructed and empowered
as an unraced “norm” in US society. More recently, a handful of literary
studies have entered the arena, illustrating how whiteness has been
constructed in and through literature. While critics have begun to
recognize that to “ignore white ethnicity,” as Coco Fusco has stated, “is
to redouble its hegemony by naturalizing it,” this recognition has not
traveled far—if at all—outside the walls of the academy. An awareness of
whiteness as a constructed ethnic identity is just now making its way into
university and college classrooms. This roundtable discussion will
explore the experiences of teachers who have sought to teach whiteness in
their classrooms. Proposals may focus, for example, on the context in
which whiteness was introduced, the texts and techniques used to teach
whiteness, the overall success and/or failure of the endeavor, and
suggestions for teaching whiteness.
Many (if not most) whites still basically ignore white ethnicity and are
not, in fact, even aware that they are doing so: whiteness is simply
something one is; it is not analyzed, it is not felt, it is not a concern.
In other words, it is not just ignored, it is unrecognized
altogether—except, perhaps, when a white person is alone among non-whites.
Are you only white, as one critic has questioned, when someone else isn’t?
While “minorities” may be able to see (as a song from West Side Story
goes) that “Things are all right in America” only “When you’re all white
in America”—whites have a difficult time seeing or acknowledging the
privileges afforded by white skin color in the US. Teaching whiteness is
an attempt to help students recognize this—to see whiteness not as the
norm, but as a constructed entity, and to examine the ways in which this
recognition affects and shifts binary-based discussions of race and
ethnicity in general and our understanding of identity formation in
particular.
This roundtable discussion on teaching whiteness will address these and
other issues as participants share classroom experiences and provide tools
and techniques for effectively teaching students how to see and read
whiteness. While there is a great deal of criticism on “cross-ethnic”
teaching (particularly white teacher/black literature), there are
virtually no resources for those seeking guidance and advice on teaching
whiteness in the classroom. This roundtable discussion, which will bring
together a variety of pedagogical experiences and techniques for teaching
whiteness, is aimed at beginning to fill this resource need.
Up to six participants may be accepted for participation on the roundtable
discussion. Each participant will give a brief (probably no longer than
10-minute) presentation; the remainder of the time will be devoted to
discussion of questions and issues raised by presentations. This
roundtable discussion is currently scheduled to be transcribed for
submission for publication as part of a special issue on whiteness in a
leading journal.
Brief proposals--1-2 pages outlining your experiences teaching whiteness
and noting the issues you would like to speak to--are due to the session
chair by September 22 (please include any audio-visual requests at this
time). Including your CV would also be helpful. Note that although NEMLA
rules prevent participants from presenting more than one paper in a paper
session, you are allowed to participate in a roundtable discussion (or
creative session) in addition to presenting in a paper session.
Chair: Patty Keefe Durso, 21 Hillside Ave, Mahwah, NJ 07430; phone:
201/512-1644 (h) or 201/512-1646 (w); Fax: 201/512-9410; Email:
pkd@nac.net. Proposals may be submitted via regular mail, email, or fax.
You need not be a member of NEMLA to respond to the call, but if your
paper is accepted, you need to be a member by November 1 to be included in
the convention program. For a membership form or more information about
NEMLA, go to their website at http://www.anna-maria.edu/nemla/
-- Patty Keefe Durso, Ph.D. pkd@nac.net (email) 201.512-1644 (ph) 201.512-9410 (fax)=============================================== From the Literary Calls for Papers Mailing List CFP@english.upenn.edu Full Information at http://www.english.upenn.edu/CFP/ or write Erika Lin: elin@english.upenn.edu ===============================================
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