Whiteness on the Border : : Mapping the US Racial Imagination in Brown and White / / Lee Bebout.

• Superior document: Title is part of eBook package: De Gruyter New York University Press Complete eBook-Package 2016
• VerfasserIn: Bebout, Lee,
• Place / Publishing House: New York, NY : : New York University Press, , [2016]; ©2016
• Year of Publication: 2016
• Language: English
• Series: Nation of Nations ; 19
• Physical Description: 1 online resource :; 16 black and white illustrations

The many lenses of racism through which the white imagination sees Mexicans and Chicanos Historically, ideas of whiteness and Americanness have been built on the backs of racialized communities. The legacy of anti-Mexican stereotypes stretches back to the early nineteenth century when Anglo-American settlers first came into regular contact with Mexico and Mexicans. The images of the Mexican Other as lawless, exotic, or non-industrious continue to circulate today within US popular and political culture. Through keen analysis of music, film, literature, and US politics, Whiteness on the Border demonstrates how contemporary representations of Mexicans and Chicano/as are pushed further to foster the idea of whiteness as Americanness. Illustrating how the ideologies, stories, and images of racial hierarchy align with and support those of fervent US nationalism, Lee Bebout maps the relationship between whiteness and American exceptionalism. He examines how renderings of the Mexican Other have expressed white fear, and formed a besieged solidarity in anti-immigrant rhetoric and policies. Moreover, Whiteness on the Border elucidates how seemingly positive representations of Mexico and Chicano/as are actually used to reinforce investments in white American goodness and obscure systems of racial inequality. Whiteness on the Border pushes readers to consider how the racial logic of the past continues to thrive in the present.

Table of Contents

Frontmatter -- Contents -- Note on Terminology -- Preface -- Introduction -- 1. What Did They Call Them after They Called Them “Greasers”? -- 2. “They Are Coming to Conquer Us!” -- 3. With Friends Like These -- 4. Deep in the Heart of Whiteness -- Conclusion -- Notes -- Bibliography -- Index -- About the Author