Whiteness of a Different Color - European Immigrants and the Alchemy of Race

America's racial odyssey is the subject of this remarkable work of historical imagination. Matthew Frye Jacobson argues that race resides not in nature but in the contingencies of politics and culture. In ever-changing racial categories we glimpse the competing theories of history and collective destiny by which power has been organized and contested in the United States. Capturing the excitement of the new field of "whiteness studies" and linking it to traditional historical inquiry, Jacobson shows that in this nation of immigrants "race" has been at the core of civic assimilation: ethnic minorities in becoming American were reracialized to become Caucasian.

About the author

Matthew Frye Jacobson is William Robertson Coe Professor of American Studies and History at Yale University.

Summary

In this work of historical imagination, Jacobson argues that race resides in contingencies of politics and culture. Linking “whiteness studies” to traditional historical inquiry, he shows that in a nation of immigrants, “race” has been at the core of civic assimilation—ethnic minorities, in becoming American, were re-racialized to become Caucasian.

Product details

• Authors: Matthew Frye Jacobson, Jacobson Matthew Frye
• Publisher: University Presses
• Languages: English
• Product format: Paperback / Softback
• Released: 01.09.1999
• EAN: 9780674951914
• ISBN: 978-0-674-95191-4
• Weight: 404 g
• Illustrations: 14 halftones, 2 tables
• Subjects: Humanities, art, music > History > Regional and national histories; Non-fiction book > History > Miscellaneous; Social sciences, law, business > Sociology > Sociological theories; USA, SOCIAL SCIENCE / Emigration & Immigration, SOCIAL SCIENCE / Minority Studies, Anthropology, SOCIAL SCIENCE / Anthropology / General, HISTORY / United States / General, Race, Migration, immigration & emigration, United States of America, USA, Ethnic groups and multicultural studies, Migration, immigration and emigration, History of the Americas, Ethnic minorities & multicultural studies, Physical anthropology, SOCIAL SCIENCE / Biracial & Multiracial Studies, Relating to migrant groups / diaspora communities or peoples