Whiteness

I'm now listening to a book called 'The Good Immigrant', edited by Nikesh Shukla.
50 Black, Asian and East Asian writers have contributed essays on their experiences of being part of a minority in Britain.  These are voices I respect and honour.  The book reminded me of the research I never completed when I was doing a MA in family therapy.  Again I felt a twinge of mourning the loss of my place on that course.  I was preparing to interview my fellow students about their awareness of being white, and what they felt that meant to them, and how they worked with white clients. 'Well there is nothing there to observe,' you might say.  But that's the point.  It's invisible, or 'white' - no colour.

My thoughts trace back to a conversation with Pete, and old colleague. He told me about the account Mungo Park wrote about his trip across West Africa to find the source of the Niger.  This book is reproduced in its entirety on the Internet at www.publicdomainreview.org .   I read it with interest but did not find reference to this story.  It does sound convincing though.  Pete told me that when Park made it to the source, he was surprised to discover that the inhabitants where expecting him.  He knew nothing about them, and was fascinated by all he observed.  They on the other hand knew a lot about 'the White Man'.  "We knew you would get here eventually," they said.  A so it pays for the less dominant force to know a lot about the dominant force, and for the opposite to be optional.

Whiteness is like my picture of the goldfish conference where the existence of water is hotly debated.  Outsiders come into our society and can see the power dynamic clearly.  They feel and know whether they are included or not.  It is said that three year old children can detect the relative value given to them and their family by society; where they fit in the pecking order.

For me the power of 'whiteness' is a bit like gravitational forces.  Two bodies attract each other, but the one with great mass moves less than the lighter body. Thus the immigrant finds that gradually their culture and ideas change to conform with the greater mass, creating a homogeneity.  What about the Jews of Central Europe, who over hundreds of years retained their unique qualities? Yes, but Yiddish food is very similar to Eastern European food, and Yiddish is very similar to German.  Jews have lots of different ethnic backgrounds because they mixed.  'Faith', is one quality of human existence which is very resistant to change.

So dominant cultures tend to have very little cultural uniqueness, because their culture becomes desirable. We all know what wearing a toga means.  American culture is now an international culture.  Western values are dominant world values. (What a relief because of course we are the most enlightened!)

Whiteness is a reference point, a benchmark. I do not have to consider what it might mean because it is understood to be domient, the colour of the background. Minority is ethnic, it is definable. Majority is normal, it is boring.

An example from the perspective of disability. I notice a car parked on the pavement and I walk out into the road tutting.  The wheelchair user is presented with a dead end. Their day is spoilt.  I got an idea of racism when I was in the East End of London, and saw sprayed on a railway bridge 'toffs out'.  I thought I might be considered a toff.  In the same way at university, I was asked to do the test for dyslexia.  This cost £250. Fine, it was subsidised by the university.  What would I get from doing this? Not sure, no guarantee of anything.  So I am out of pocket with no benefits. This is the experience of disabled people, and the Disability Discrimination Act is supposed to be a big thing.  It's like being grateful to your burglar for returning half your possessions. And I did the dyslexia pre-test, which told me I wasn't dyslexic, but I was dyspraxia. Stupid thing, and I am supposed to be grateful for all this rubbish.  Now I am sounding as if I have got a chip on my shoulder.

Much as I might not like the idea of whiteness: my girls chose to call themselves peach: the power of whiteness exists across the globe.  In China we noted that we did not recieve any special treatment.  But we were in any other skin colour. Maybe whiteness is also relative.

I think the best way to understand the subtle power of whiteness is to compare it to other power differentials such as age, gender, sexuality and disability.

I again recall visiting a restaurant in Sheffield were the waiter had a significantly disfigured face. His face distressed me.  I think 'I don't want to go back there again,' and the thought shocks me. I think I will have to go- but that is for all the wrong reasons.