"Whiteness just isn't what is used to be" : white identity in a changing South Africa / Melissa E. Steyn.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Steyn, Melissa E.

Series:

Interruptions

SUNY series, interruptions : border testimony(ies) and critical discourse/s

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

White people--South Africa--Attitudes.

White people.

White people--South Africa--Psychology.

Psychology.

South Africa--Race relations.

South Africa.

Race relations.

South Africa--Politics and government--1994-.

Politics and government.

South Africa--Social conditions--1994-.

Social conditions.

Physical Description:

xxxix, 228 pages ; 23 cm.

Place of Publication:

Albany : State University of New York Press, [2001]

Summary:

The election of 1994, which heralded the demise of Apartheid as a legally enforced institutionalization of "whiteness," disconnected the prior moorings of social identity for most South Africans, whatever their political persuasion. In one of the most profound collective psychological experiences of the contemporary world, South Africans are renegotiating the meaning of their social positionalities. In this book, Melissa Steyn, herself a white South African, grapples with what it means to be white, reflecting on events in her past that still resonate with her today. Her research includes discourse with more than fifty white South Africans who are faced with reinterpreting their old selves in the light of new knowledge and possibilities. Framed within current debates of postcolonialism and postmodernism, "Whiteness Just Isn't What It Used To Be" explores how the changes in South Africa's social and political structure are changing the white population's identity and sense of self.

Contents:

Section 1 Early Tales

1. A Master Narrative of Whiteness 3

2. "White" South Africans 23

Section 2 Shades of Whitenesses

3. Things Bad Begun: Growing up "White" 47

4. Narrative One: Still Colonial after All These Years 59

5. Narrative Two: This Shouldn't Happen to A White 69

6. Narrative Three: Don't Think White, It's All Right 83

7. Narrative Four: A Whiter Shade of White 101

8. Narrative Five: Under African Skies (or White, but Not Quite) 115

9. Conclusion: Whiteness Just Isn't What It Used to Be 149

Appendix 1 Methodology 173

Appendix 2 Brief Chronology of South African Political Events 179.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN:

0791450791

0791450805

OCLC:

45356651