Ugly White People: Writing Whiteness in Contemporary America

White Americans are becoming more aware of their whiteness due to political and social changes, and white writers are exposing a self-awareness of white racialized behavior. Ugly White People explores representations of whiteness from twenty-first-century white American authors, revealing white recognition of the ugly forms whiteness can take. Stephanie Li argues that the rising consciousness of whiteness is due to the imminent shift to a "majority minority" population and the growing diversification of Americas political, social, and cultural institutions.

Format: Paperback / softback
Length: 272 pages
Publication date: 08 November 2023
Publisher: University of Minnesota Press

White Americans are increasingly confronting their whiteness, with political and social shifts ushering in a newfound racial awareness. This self-awareness of white racialized behavior is being exposed by white writers, ranging from staunch antiracism to virulent forms of xenophobic nationalism. Ugly White People explores representations of whiteness from twenty-first-century white American authors, revealing white recognition of the ugly forms whiteness can take. Stephanie Li argues that the rise of whiteness in the twenty-first century is due to the imminent shift to a "majority minority" population and the growing diversification of American political, social, and cultural institutions. This results in literature that more directly grapples with whiteness as its own construct rather than a wrongly assumed norm. Li contextualizes a series of literary novels as collectively influenced by changes in racial and political attitudes. She traces the responses to white consciousness that breed shared manifestations of ugliness, such as the tension between acknowledging whiteness as an identity built on domination and the failure to remedy inequalities that have proliferated from this founding injustice. The questions posed in Ugly White People about the nature and future of whiteness are vital to understanding contemporary race relations in America.

White Americans are increasingly confronting their whiteness, with political and social shifts ushering in a newfound racial awareness. This self-awareness of white racialized behavior is being exposed by white writers, ranging from staunch antiracism to virulent forms of xenophobic nationalism. Ugly White People explores representations of whiteness from twenty-first-century white American authors, revealing white recognition of the ugly forms whiteness can take. Stephanie Li argues that the rise of whiteness in the twenty-first century is due to the imminent shift to a "majority minority" population and the growing diversification of American political, social, and cultural institutions. This results in literature that more directly grapples with whiteness as its own construct rather than a wrongly assumed norm. Li contextualizes a series of literary novels as collectively influenced by changes in racial and political attitudes. She traces the responses to white consciousness that breed shared manifestations of ugliness, such as the tension between acknowledging whiteness as an identity built on domination and the failure to remedy inequalities that have proliferated from this founding injustice. The questions posed in Ugly White People about the nature and future of whiteness are vital to understanding contemporary race relations in America.

Weight: 340g
Dimension: 216 x 140 x 15 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9781517915742