The Meaning of Whitemen by Ira Bashkow

The Meaning of Whitemen by Ira Bashkow

A familiar cultural presence for people the world over, "the whiteman" has come to personify the legacy of colonialism, the face of Western modernity, and the force of globalization. Focusing on the cultural meanings of whitemen in the Orokaiva society of Papua New Guinea, this book provides a fresh approach to understanding how race is symbolically constructed and why racial stereotypes endure in the face of counter evidence. While Papua New Guinea's resident white population has been severely reduced due to postcolonial white flight, the whiteman remains a significant racial and cultural other here - not only as an archetype of power and wealth in the modern arena, but also as a foil for people's evaluations of themselves within vernacular frames of meaning. As Ira Bashkow explains, ideas of self versus other need not always be anti-humanistic or deprecatory, but can be a creative and potentially constructive part of all cultures. A brilliant analysis of whiteness and race in a non-Western society, "The Meaning of Whitemen" turns traditional ethnography to the purpose of understanding how others see us.

Ira Bashkow is assistant professor of anthropology at the University of Virginia.

SKU	Unavailable
ISBN 13	9780226038919
ISBN 10	0226038912
Title	The Meaning of Whitemen
Author	Ira Bashkow
Condition	Unavailable
Binding Type	Paperback
Publisher	University Of Chicago Press
Year published	2006-07-17
Number of pages	328
Cover note	Book picture is for illustrative purposes only, actual binding, cover or edition may vary.
Note	Unavailable