The study of whiteness has grown over the past two decades, yet by and large remains focused on the US and to a much lesser extent Europe. This symposium seeks to take whiteness studies beyond its current focus on ‘the West’ by interrogating the production of whiteness outside the West, and the roles played by Africans, Asians, and Latin Americans, among others, in the creation, alteration, uses, and perpetuation of whiteness.
We encourage submissions which consider the various ways in which whites enter and encounter the non-West (as settlers, scholars, tourists, diplomats, soldiers, aid workers, missionaries, and so on) and how they have understood, deployed, and/or elided their whiteness. We also seek papers that will examine how indigenous populations (service workers, sex workers, Christian converts, colonial and corporate subalterns, and so on) experience, resist, mimic, reproduce, and discuss the whiteness in their midst. The symposium will encourage scholars to think broadly across time and space, and across disciplines, to engage with a variety of sources (written, visual, oral), and to reflect on what whiteness studies can offer scholars of the non-west, and vice-versa. The deadline for submitting a one page abstract is Monday, June 1st. Notice of acceptance will be sent by July 1. In order to facilitate discussion, presenters will be required to submit their full papers (for distribution to fellow presenters and other symposium attendees) by September 15. Abstracts and inquiries to be sent to the organizers at: whitenessconference@vt.edu

Keynote speakers to be announced.

Brett Shadle, History Dept.
P. S. Polanah, Africana Studies