Fading out black and white : racial ambiguity in American culture / Lisa Simone Kingstone.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Kingstone, Lisa Simone, author.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

African Americans--Race identity.

African Americans.

Race awareness--United States.

Race awareness.

White people--Race identity--United States.

White people.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (225 pages)

Edition:

1st ed.

Distribution:

New York : Bloomsbury Publishing (US), 2025.

Place of Publication:

Lanham, MD : Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, 2018.

System Details:

text file rdaft

Summary:

What happens to a country that was built on race when the boundaries of black and white have started to fade? Not only is the literal face of America changing where white will no longer be the majority, but the belief in the firmness of these categories and the boundaries that have been drawn is also disintegrating. In a nuanced reading of culture in a post Obama America, this book asks what will become of the racial categories of black and white in an increasingly multi-ethnic, racially ambiguous, and culturally fluid country. Through readings of sites of cultural friction such as the media frenzy around ‘transracial’ Rachel Dolezal, the new popularity of racially ambiguous dolls, and the confusion over Obama’s race, Fading Out Black and White explores the contemporary construction of race. This insightful, provocative glimpse at identity formation in the US reviews the new frontier of race and looks back at the archaism of the one-drop rule that is unique to America.

Contents:

Tracing race: a tour of the racial binary

The trial of Rachel Dolezal : the first transracial

Obama as racial rorschach : the first blank president

Casting color : black barbie and the black doll as racial barometer

Really black : black-ish and the black sitcom as racial barometer

Talking about race : black, white and mixed focus groups

Methodology

White groups

Overview

Fear of being racist

Biological essentialism

Experimental essentialism

Colorblindness

Exoticization

Stereotyping

Response to dolezal

Black group

Experiential essentialism

Mistrust of white people

Black bond

Everyday racism

Talking white

Policing black authenticity

Mixed race groups

Coda

Appendix 1: Demographic information form

Appendix 2: Flyer for focus groups

Bibliography.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN:

979-82-16-22339-9

979-88-8183-345-9

1-78660-256-3

OCLC:

1043956685