Whiteness on the Border: Mapping the US Racial Imagination in Brown and White (Nation of Nations, 19)

Bebout, Lee

ISBN 10: 1479858536 / ISBN 13: 9781479858538

Published by NYU Press, 2016

About this Item

In.

Seller Inventory # ria9781479858538_new

Bibliographic Details

• Title: Whiteness on the Border: Mapping the US Racial Imagination in Brown and White (Nation of Nations, 19)
• Publisher: NYU Press
• Publication Date: 2016
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1479858536
• ISBN 13: 9781479858538
• Binding: Soft cover
• Condition: New

About this title

Synopsis

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.

About the Author

Lee Bebout is Professor of English at Arizona State University. Bebout teaches on and researches in the areas of race, social justice, and political culture. He is also the author of Whiteness on the Border: Mapping the US Racial Imagination in Brown and White.