Whiteness on the Border: Mapping the US Racial Imagination in Brown and White

by Lee Bebout

Overview

The many lenses of racism through which the white imagination sees Mexicans and Chicanos

Historically, ideas of whiteness and Americanness have been built on the backs of racialized communities. The legacy of anti-Mexican stereotypes stretches back to the early nineteenth century when Anglo-American settlers first came into regular contact with Mexico and Mexicans. The images of the Mexican Other as lawless, exotic, or non-industrious continue to circulate today within US popular and political culture. Through keen analysis of music, film, literature, and US politics, Whiteness on the Border demonstrates how contemporary representations of Mexicans and Chicano/as are pushed further to foster the idea of whiteness as Americanness.

Illustrating how the ideologies, stories, and images of racial hierarchy align with and support those of fervent US nationalism, Lee Bebout maps the relationship between whiteness and American exceptionalism. He examines how renderings of the Mexican Other have expressed white fear, and formed a besieged solidarity in anti-immigrant rhetoric and policies. Moreover, Whiteness on the Border elucidates how seemingly positive representations of Mexico and Chicano/as are actually used to reinforce investments in white American goodness and obscure systems of racial inequality. Whiteness on the Border pushes readers to consider how the racial logic of the past continues to thrive in the present.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781479858538
Publisher:	New York University Press
Publication date:	12/13/2016
Series:	Nation of Nations , #19
Edition description:	New Edition
Pages:	304
Sales rank:	729,698
Product dimensions:	5.90(w) x 8.80(h) x 0.80(d)

About the Author

Lee Bebout is Professor of English at Arizona State Universitywhere he is affiliated with the School of Transborder Studies and the Program in American Studies. He is the author of Mythohistorical Interventions: The Chicano Movement and Its Legacies (2011) and Whiteness on the Border: Mapping the US Racial Imagination in Brown and White (2016).

Table of Contents

Note on Terminology xi

Preface xiii

Introduction: Chicana/o Studies and the Whiteness Problem; or, Toward a Mapping of Whiteness on the Border 1

1 What Did They Call Them after They Called Them "Greasers"? A Genealogy and Taxonomy of the Mexican Other 33

2 "They Are Coming to Conquer Us!" The Nativist Aztlán, and the Fears and Fantasies of Whiteness 73

3 With Friends Like These: The Supremacist Logic of Saviorism 107

4 Deep in the Heart of Whiteness: White Desire and the Political Potential of Love 155

Conclusion: Imagining and Working toward Gringostroika 199

Notes 217

Bibliography 247

Index 263

About the Author 267

Editorial Reviews

"Bebout draws together the insights of critical whiteness studies and Chicana/o studies to show how whiteness has been made and remade through the construction and policing of a material and imagined brown/white racial border."

Critical Inquiry

"Bebouts book forms an impressive contribution to scholarship in this field."

U.S. Studies Online

"Whiteness on the Borderexplores the vexed ways in which white identity in the U.S. has historically been forged in opposition to a Mexican & other. Displaying mastery of the intellectual traditions of critical whiteness studies and Chicana/o studies, LeeBeboutdraws deftly on complicated concepts to show that while there is always racism, there is never only a singular homogenous racism, but instead many differentiated and tactically deployed racisms. Brimming with exceptional critical acumen,Whiteness on the Borderwill be a book of significant impact and influence."

George Lipsitz

"Balancing between personal reflections, an impressive grasp of diverse cultural theory, and at times mellifluent prose, Whiteness on the Border is essential reading for anti-racism activists and critical race scholars. Bebout’s clear use and definition of complicated terms and social practices makes this book accessible to an advanced undergraduate and graduate audience; I plan on assigning it in my US Racial Theory class in the fall."

Journal of American Ethnic History

"Whiteness on the Borderexplores the vexed ways in which white identity in the U.S. has historically been forged in opposition to a Mexican & other. Displaying mastery of the intellectual traditions of critical whiteness studies and Chicana/o studies, LeeBeboutdraws deftly on complicated concepts to show that while there is always racism, there is never only a singular homogenous racism, but instead many differentiated and tactically deployed racisms. Brimming with exceptional critical acumen,Whiteness on the Borderwill be a book of significant impact and influence."

George Lipsitz

"With wit, passion, rigor,Whiteness on the Borderbreaks down the logic of white supremacy. Innovative and dynamic, Lee Bebouts critical study drops onto the world at a key moment. We are living through a backlash against multiculturalism and against the civil rights movement. Something has changed; something has turned, and Bebouts timely study helps us to chart the depth of this bracing cultural metastasis."

William Anthony Nericcio

"Bebout makesWhiteness on the Bordera compelling read by weaving his own experiences as a white person into his analysis; his anecdotes remind us that even in nonborder spaces like Chicago in the 1970s, ideas about Mexicanness circulate, reverberate, and solidify ideas about whiteness."

ALH Online Review

Whiteness on the Border explores the vexed ways in which white identity in the U.S. has historically been forged in opposition to a Mexican ‘other.’ Displaying mastery of the intellectual traditions of critical whiteness studies and Chicana/o studies, Lee Bebout draws deftly on complicated concepts to show that while there is always racism, there is never only a singular homogenous racism, but instead many differentiated and tactically deployed racisms. Brimming with exceptional critical acumen, Whiteness on the Border will be a book of significant impact and influence.”-George Lipsitz,author of How Racism Takes Place

“With wit, passion, rigor, Whiteness on the Border breaks down the logic of white supremacy. Innovative and dynamic, Lee Bebout’s critical study drops onto the world at a key moment. We are living through a backlash against multiculturalism and against the civil rights movement. Something has changed; something has turned, and Bebout’s timely study helps us to chart the depth of this bracing cultural metastasis.”-William Anthony Nericcio,author of Tex[t]-Mex: Seductive Hallucinations of “Mexicans” in America

“Bebout makes Whiteness on the Border a compelling read by weaving his own experiences as a white person into his analysis; his anecdotes remind us that even in nonborder spaces like Chicago in the 1970s, ideas about Mexicanness circulate, reverberate, and solidify ideas about whiteness."- ALH Online Review

“Bebout draws together the insights of critical whiteness studies and Chicana/o studies to show how whiteness has been made and remade through the construction and policing of a material and imagined brown/white racial border."- Critical Inquiry

“Bebout’s book forms an impressive contribution to scholarship in this field."- U.S. Studies Online

From the Publisher