White women, race matters : the social construction of whiteness

Beginning With The Premise That Race Shapes White Women's Lives, Just As Much As Gender Shapes Men's Lives Or Sexuality Shapes Heterosexual Lives, The Author Examines, Through 30 Life-history Interviews, Just How This Whiteness Is Constructed. Whiteness Is Not An Empty Signifier, But Rather A Multifaceted Daily Experience Of Racial Structuring, And Through Ethnographic Descriptions Of The 30 Womens' Lives, Frankenberg Provides Evidence That Whiteness Is A Specific Set Of Cultural Practices. 1. Introduction: Points Of Origin, Points Of Departure -- 2. White On White: The Interviewees And The Method -- 3. Growing Up White: The Social Geography Of Race -- 4. Race, Sex, And Intimacy I: Mapping A Discourse -- 5. Race, Sex, And Intimacy Ii: Interracial Couples And Interracial Parenting -- 6. Thinking Through Race -- 7. Questions Of Culture And Belonging -- Epilogue: Racism, Antiracism, And The Meaning Of Whiteness -- Appendix: The Women Who Were Interviewed. Ruth Frankenberg. Includes Bibliographical References (p. 277-281) And Index. Also Available Online.