Whiteness in America by Monica McDermott;

Author:Monica McDermott; [Неизв.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
Published: 2020-04-22T20:00:00+00:00

This woman, who herself identifies with both her white and her American Indian heritage, senses that there is something special about being an Indian now—a specialness that whites do not have.

The number of Americans claiming American Indian identity on the US census form exploded between 1960 and 1990 (Nagel 1995). Liebler et al. (2017) find substantial variation in identifications with American Indians between 2000 and 2010. Many of those who identify themselves as American Indian on the census form do not list a tribe at all (Liebler and Zacher 2013), although tribal identity is of considerable importance to many of those with a long-standing affiliation with a tribe. These findings suggest that the Native identity is becoming increasingly popular among people who previously had had no connection with it. Some Indians have a joke about the frequency with which white Americans claim to be “part Cherokee,” as this is by far the largest tribe and probably the one that most whites would be aware of. Senator Elizabeth Warren’s widely reported comment about her Native American heritage earned her approbation from many quarters, as her assertion that she was part Cherokee was not strongly substantiated.

Why is there this relatively newfound desire to affiliate oneself to a group that has been highly stigmatized throughout history? A cynical response might be that individuals who would otherwise be considered white could claim to be Native American as a way of gaining affirmative action benefits. There is limited evidence for this, as affirmative action for hiring purposes may include the specification of tribal membership. In addition, many of those who claim to be American Indian are past their working years. Instead, Native American identity could serve a function that is very much related to the meaning of whiteness in America: rather than feeling part of a group that is “invisible” or “nothing,” these individuals embrace the opportunity to affiliate themselves to a recognized and visible racial identity. Roth and Ivemark (2018) found that this was true for a number of the whites they interviewed about their interpretation of the results of the genealogical DNA testing they had undergone. While most of the whites who transformed their racial identities substantially after the test incorporated a Native American identity, one white southern woman incorporated a black identity, saying: “[it was not that hard] for me to find out that I was black because I don’t have black skin. And not everybody knows. Maybe that’s it” (2018: 175). This woman’s black identity is costless: she endures none of the downsides of being black in American society, since “not everybody knows.” Instead, those who find non-white identities exciting and exotic can adopt them as symbols of a richer culture and heritage than they feel their whiteness conveys, without enduring the societal cost.

Embracing non-white categories is not only about seeming more interesting, however. Since racism can be a defining feature of whiteness, there are whites who will fervently distance themselves from a group that is inherently discriminatory. Socially progressive whites

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