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Accepted Contribution:
Contribution short abstract:
Centering Whiteness as a subject of study in anthropology shifts the focus to privilege, offering a strategy to unpack systemic inequality. This approach challenges norms by showing how racism sustains both the disenfranchisement of BIPOC and the empowerment of White people.
Contribution long abstract:
Anthropology, due to its colonial legacy that is very present today, is not like some other disciplines. In comparison to history, for instance, where foregrounding subaltern or lower-class subjects, non-European countries, or simply not looking through the eyes of the “victor” is considered decolonial/anti-racist, this is almost the norm in anthropology. However, unlike history, this does not automatically render anthropological work decolonial or anti-racist. In situations where a White anthropologist is studying among non-White interlocutors, critiques have suggested methods such as co-authorship or giving back to the community as a reparative or justice-oriented strategy. Other cases where a non-White anthropologist is studying within their own community are generally considered less problematic, although their credibility to maintain critical distance from their “own culture” has become suspect. Although there are so many other ways of “doing anthropology,” these two archetypes have vastly made up the canon as well as how we discuss the ethics of field research. In both cases, the study objects are considered non-White people, the anthropological subject par excellence.
Within this juncture, I propose the study of Whiteness in anthropology as a decolonial/anti-racist strategy. If anthropological fieldwork always has the potential to do harm and disempower our interlocutors, why not take this risk among interlocutors whose power positions can take it, while making inequality and injustice visible? In this case, anti-racism is not only about showing how racist inequalities disenfranchise BIPOC but also about how they enfranchise White people.
Who is afraid of anti-racism? Intersectional justice and inclusive futures in anthropology