Whiteness: Understanding Identity Through the Cultural Imagination

My research looks at the way whiteness gets constructed through the imagination. Poor white people have been excluded from taking agency of whiteness due to their economic position in society where negative terms are... [ view full abstract ]

My research looks at the way whiteness gets constructed through the imagination. Poor white people have been excluded from taking agency of whiteness due to their economic position in society where negative terms are associated with their actions and living conditions such as “trailer trash” or “white trash”. This creates an image of conflict of what it means to be truly white. In this research, I explore the following questions: (1) how is whiteness constructed through class position self-identifying whites? (2) In what ways is the idea of being white illuminated through the symbolization of trailer parks? To answer these questions, I conducted interviews and secondary text analysis. Through this method, I gathered opinions of whiteness through lived experiences of white people and analyzed the ways that individuals place themselves in a category that defines not just their physical attributions, but also the believed ways that whiteness reflects certain behaviors in society.