Elaine: You're black. You said we were an interracial couple.
Darryl: We are. Because you're Hispanic.
Elaine: I am?
Darryl: Aren't you?
Elaine: No. Why would you think that?
Darryl: Your name's Benes, your hair, and you kept taking me to those Spanish restaurants.
Elaine: That's because I thought you were black.
Darryl: Why would you take me to a Spanish restaurant because I'm black?
Elaine: I don't think we should be talking about this.
Darryl: So, what are you?
Elaine: I'm white.
Darryl: So, we're just a couple of boring white people?
Elaine: I guess.
Darryl: Oh.
Elaine: Yeah. So do you want to go to the Gap?
Darryl: Sure.
The conversation between Elaine and Darryl on “Seinfeld” seems a suitable enough point of departure for this M/MLA special session which seeks to examine the conundrum that is/not white culture.
Arguably, white culture masquerades simply as “culture,” a de-raced notion that causes other races to adopt their own referents in relation to it e.g. “black culture” or “Asian culture.” In turn, those sentiments that underpin white culture continue to operate under the radar and are rarely, if ever, articulated. This special session aims to (1) determine if those sentiments are tangible enough to be identified, and, if so, (2) tease the sentiments out.
Overarching questions to consider include: Does white culture exist? If so, what is it? What or who constitutes it?
If white culture exists:
Is it high culture, low culture, or in a liminal space between the two?
Is it a totalizing phenomenology, or is it experienced differently in different parts of globe?
Is it dictated by urban epicenters such as New York City and Los Angeles (namely Hollywood), or do rural areas have a stake in its determination?
In terms of Hollywood, how entrenched in white culture are television shows like “Friends” and “Sex and the City”? Why do these types of shows have such purchase on white culture?
How is white culture commodified? Who can purchase it, and what form(s) of capital does it require to make the purchase?
Is white culture under threat as a result of the “post-race” ideology put forth by, amongst others, Walter Benn Michaels?
If white culture does not exist:
Why not?
Does anything exist in its place?
How are white individuals positioned socially without having a culture?
In the absence of a culture, what are the rallying points for white individuals?
What speaks to the souls of white folk?
Send abstracts, full-length papers, ideas and/or queries by 31 March 2006 to (e-submissions preferred):
Chris Bell
PhD Student
Nottingham Trent University
College of Communication, Culture and Education
Clifton Campus, Clifton Lane
Nottingham
NG11 8NS
United Kingdom
tooferbell_at_yahoo.com
Note: In order to present at the MMLA Convention, participants must remit organization membership and conference dues to the organization by June 1, 2006. Full details about this painless process are available at the MMLA website: www.uiowa.edu/~mmla.
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