Kirsty Coventry and whiteness in Zimbabwe: how sport can rewrite the political rules: Kirsty Coventry’s story is one of apparent contradictions. She’s a white woman celebrated as a national hero in a Black-majority Zimbabwe and an Olympic swimmer turned politician. She’s also now one of the most powerful figures in global sports as president of …
Whiteness is an invented concept that has been used as a tool of oppression: Whiteness is a modern, colonial invention. It was devised in the 17th century and used to provide the logic for genocide and slavery. The first recorded mention of “white people”, historians concur, is in English playwright Thomas Middleton’s 1613 play, The …
New book challenges whiteness: a review through the cover image: Detail of the cover of the new book featuring art by Norman Catherine. Routledge Handbook of Critical Studies in Whiteness/Routledge The cover of The Routledge Handbook of Critical Studies in Whiteness carries a striking image courtesy of South African artist Norman Catherine. The image was …
Whiteness is at the heart of racism in Britain – so why is it portrayed as a Black problem?: In 2020, two police officers in Hackney strip-searched a 15-year-old Black girl at her school. Police conducted the search of this child, known as Child Q, without the consent of her parents, without an appropriate adult …
New book unpacks the complexities of whiteness in South Africa: A multiracial crowd sings the South African National Anthem at 2019 memorial service for the late rugby Springbok Chester Williams. Rodger Bosch/AFP/ via GettyImages In his latest book sociologist Professor Roger Southall, a prolific researcher who has written extensively about political dynamics in Southern Africa, …
Challenging the whiteness of classics – remembering the Black Romans: Septimius Severus was an emperor who was born in Roman Africa. CPA Media Pte Ltd/Alamy As with every humanities discipline, classics has responded to Black Lives Matter with justifiable introspection. As the study of the ancient world, and particularly that of the Mediterranean cultures, classics …
Whiteness characterises higher education institutions – so why are we surprised by racism?: PlusONE / Shutterstock.com Rufaro Chisango, a black student at Nottingham Trent University, tweeted a video of students chanting “we hate the blacks” outside of her dorm. This shockingly racist abuse has quite rightly drawn widespread condemnation. Whenever someone does something explicitly racist, …