Whiteness just isn't what it used to be

white identity in a changing South Africa

Bibliographic Data

ID24198562
AuthorsMelissa E Steyn
Year2001
Pages228
Publication date2001-01-01
Open AccessNo
TypeBOOK
VenueWhiteness just isn't what it used to be (SOURCE_BOOK)
PublisherState University of New York Press (PUBLISHER • US)
Open LibraryOL6790737M
ISBN9780791450796
LanguageEN
Citations received139

"The election of 1994, which heralded the demise of Apartheid as a legally enforced institutionalization of "whiteness," disconnected the prior moorings of social identity for most South Africans, whatever their political persuasion. In one of the most profound collective psychological experiences of the contemporary world, South Africans are renegotiating the meaning of their social positionalities. In this book, Melissa Steyn, herself a white South African, grapples with what it means to be white, reflecting on events in her past that still resonate with her today. Her research includes discourse with more than fifty white South Africans who are faced with reinterpreting their old selves in the light of new knowledge and possibilities. Framed within current debates of postcolonialism and postmodernism, "Whiteness Just Isn't What It Used To Be" explores how the changes in South Africa's social and political structure are changing the white population's identity and sense of self."--Jacket.

1994 · Attitudes · Blanken · politics and government · Politieke verandering · Psychologische aspecten · Psychology · race relations · Social conditions · Sociale aspecten · Sociale geografie · South Africa · White people · Whites