How to Talk About White, Whiteness and Whitening in Latin America?

https://doi.org/10.25058/20112742.n45.02

Aidaluz Sánchez
Universidad de Guadalajara

Abstract:

White, whiteness, and whitening are concepts that allow to understand processes related to the shaping of racial identities or racial standings, revealing forms of social organization where the notion of “race” is activated. To make sense of this argument, I will contextualize the notion of “race” and the process of racialization, outlining several hindrances to carry out an analysis by drawing upon the concept of “race.” Then, I will outline the differences between white, whiteness and whitening as ways to understand racialization and give some clues about the social setting that enabled the emergence of a scholarly field inquiring about whiteness — most prominently in Brazil as compared with the Spanish-speaking context — and the challenge for critical whiteness to integrate the analysis on racial “unmarked” positions. Finally, I address examples of Colombian and Mexican cases, where the challenges to analyze whiteness are evident in contexts of miscegenation-mestizaje.

Keywords: white, whiteness, whitening, “race”, identities.