Re-orienting whiteness : transnational perspectives on the history of an identity

This book brings together historians from the U.S., Canada, Australia, New Zealand, and Europe to historicize constructions of whiteness as a colonial formation. The essays examine how this racial category traveled around the routes of empire. A transnational focus brings historical and spatial specificity to the field and re-orients the frames of whiteness for American and non-American scholars alike. This Book Brings Together Historians From The United States, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, And Europe To Historicize Constructions Of Whiteness As A Colonial Formation. Confronting The Privilege Inherent In The Invisibility Of Contemporary Whiteness Requires That The Historical Roots Of Racial Power Be Interrogated, And The History Of European Colonialism Is Of Much More Than Passing Significance To This Task. This Collection Functions To Read The Colonial Back Into Whiteness By Demonstrating How This Racial Category Traveled Around The Routes Of Empire. It Shows How A Transnational Focus Can Bring Historical And Spatial Specificity To The Study Of Whiteness And Thus Re-orients The Frames Of Whiteness For American And Non-american Scholars Alike. 1. Re-orienting Ehiteness : A New Agenda For The Field / Jane Carey, Leigh Boucher And Katherine Ellinghaus -- Pt. I. Historians Approaching The Study Of Whiteness -- 2. Whiteness And The Imperial Turn / Angela Woollacott -- 3. The Strange Career Of Whiteness : Miscegenation, Assimilation, Abdication / Louise Newman -- 4. Whiteness, Geopolitical Reconfiguration, And The Settler Empire In Nineteenth-century Victorian Politics / Leigh Boucher -- Pt. Ii. Whiteness As A Transnational Colonial Production -- 5. Traveling White / Warwick Anderson -- 6. The Question Of Miscegenation In The Politics Of English-speaking Countries In The Early Twentieth Century / Henry Reynolds -- 7. Being Thankful For Their Birth In A Christian Land : Interrogating Intersections Between Whiteness And Child Rescue / Shurlee Swain, Margot Hillel And Belinda Sweeney --^ 8. I Followed England Round The World : The Rise Of Trans-imperial Anglo-saxon Exceptionalism, And The Spatial Narratives Of Nineteenth-century British Settler Colonies Of The Pacific Rim / Penelope Edmonds -- Pt. Iii. Whiteness As A Settler-colonial Identity -- 9. White Is Wonderful : Emotional Conversion And Subjective Formation / Marilyn Lake -- 10. The Fabrication Of White Homemaking : Louisa Meredith In Colonial Tasmania / Patricia Grimshaw And Ann Standish -- 11. Reading The Shadows Of Whiteness : A Case Of Racial Clarity On Queensland's Colonial Borderlands, 1880-1900 / Tracey Banivanua Mar -- 12. The Deluded White Woman And The Expatriation Of The White Child / Margaret Allen -- Pt. Iv. Whiteness And The Imagining/managing Of Colonial Populations -- 13. Women's Objective--a Perfect Race : Whiteness, Eugenics, And The Articulation Of Race / Jane Carey -- 14. Born And Nurtured In Darkest Ignorance : White Imaginings Of Aboriginal Maternity / Liz Conor --^ 15. Rethinking Squaw Men And Pakeha-maori : Legislating White Masculinity In New Zealand And Canada, 1840-1900 / Angela Wanhalla -- 16. Into The White Man's Kingdom : Whiteness And Indigenous Assimilation Policies In The United States And Australia, 1880s-1960s / Katherine Ellinghaus -- Pt. V. Conclusion -- 17. Epilogue / Jane Carey, Leigh Boucher And Katherine Ellinghaus. Edited By Leigh Boucher, Jane Carey, And Katherine Ellinghaus. Papers Presented At The Historicising Whiteness Conference Held At The University Of Melbourne In 2006. Includes Bibliographical References And Index. Cover......Page 1 Contents......Page 6 Acknowledgments......Page 8 1 Re-Orienting Whiteness: A New Agenda for the Field......Page 10 Part I: Historians Approaching the Study of Whiteness......Page 24 2 Whiteness and “the Imperial Turn”......Page 26 3 The Strange Career of Whiteness: Miscegenation, Assimilation, Abdication......Page 40 4 “Whiteness,” Geopolitical Reconfiguration, and the Settler Empire in Nineteenth-Century Victorian Politics......Page 54 Part II: Whiteness as a Transnational Colonial Production......Page 72 5 Traveling White......Page 74 6 The Question of Miscegenation in the Politics of English-Speaking Countries in the Early Twentieth Century......Page 82 7 “Being Thankful for their Birth in a Christian Land”: Interrogating Intersections between Whiteness and Child Rescue......Page 92 8 “I Followed England Round the World”: The Rise of Trans-Imperial Anglo-Saxon Exceptionalism, and the Spatial Narratives of Nineteenth-Century British Settler Colonies of the Pacific Rim......Page 108 Part III: Whiteness as a Settler-Colonial Identity......Page 126 9 White is Wonderful: Emotional Conversion and Subjective Formation......Page 128 10 The Fabrication of White Homemaking: Louisa Meredith in Colonial Tasmania......Page 144 11 Reading the Shadows of Whiteness: A Case of Racial Clarity on Queensland’s Colonial Borderlands, 1880–1900......Page 158 12 The Deluded White Woman and the Expatriation of the White Child......Page 174 Part IV: Whiteness and the Imagining/Managing of Colonial Populations......Page 190 13 “Women’s Objective—A Perfect Race”: Whiteness, Eugenics, and the Articulation of Race......Page 192 14 “Born and Nurtured in Darkest Ignorance”: White Imaginings of Aboriginal Maternity......Page 208 15 Rethinking “Squaw Men” and “Pakeha-Maori”: Legislating White Masculinity in New Zealand and Canada, 1840–1900......Page 228 16 Into the White Man’s Kingdom: Whiteness and Indigenous Assimilation Policies in the United States and Australia, 1880s–1960s......Page 244 Part V: Conclusion......Page 260 17 Epilogue......Page 262 Notes on Contributors......Page 268 A......Page 272 C......Page 273 F......Page 274 I......Page 275 M......Page 276 P......Page 277 S......Page 278 W......Page 279 Y......Page 280