White Studies
There was a lot of noise in the blogs over white studies a little while back. I'm not interested enough in what was said to search out all the entries. The opinions expressed came down to
- White studies is an evil plan to inflict the white race with TLG (Terminal Liberal Guilt), which will render them helpless as great waves of brown, yellow and black (especially Black) people wash over this great nation of ours, taking our jobs and making us pay taxes
- White studies in necessary to open the eyes of The Man (even when he's a woman) to the depths of depravity they inflict on the world, pillaging and plundering the natural wealth of the native world and despoiling all as they pass
I'll be honest: some 10-15 years ago I considered the idea of studying white folks the way Margaret Meade studied the Samoans. White studies as currently executed is not what I had in mind. The flaw seems to be that it's about teaching white folks about themselves. My personal position is, if we knew all that about white folks there'd be no racial issues No, I don't think we're ready to teach about white folks. I think we're still in the research phase.
My approach to the research would be to use Maslow's Hierarchy of Motivations as a framework (yes, this is the third Maslow reference in as many days).
1. Physiological: hunger, thirst, bodily comforts, etc.;
2. Safety/security: out of danger;
3. Belongingness and Love: affiliate with others, be accepted; and
4. Esteem: to achieve, be competent, gain approval and recognition.
Also, since whiteness, Blackness, Chicanoness, etc.-ness are social things (not traits inherent an any single entity but are emergent qualities that arise from human interactions) I would look into the social machinery available to white people to satisfy these requirements. We're not comparing white people with any other ethnicity at this point. I just want to observe: how do a fully acculturated white people resole their physiological needs?
Oh, yeah, I don't want any conversation from my subjects. We all know how easy it is for humans to have the wrong idea about their own motivations.
Where was I? Right.
What social mechanisms are available to white folks to insure their physical safety? How do they go about establishing a connection to the groups they identify with? How do they determine which groups they identify with? How well thought of do they have to be to feel comfortable with their in-groups?
That's where I'd like to see research begin.
