Whiteness: A Wayward Construction

Rating:
Summary: Great work all around
Review: This book contains art and essays that advance an exciting new way to consider the contemporary visual arts, and the social world in which Americans in particular swim. White Americans swim in racial preference, though they usually don't know it, so like the fish in water, can't describe it (an imperfect metaphor, given the mental capacities of most fish, but it'll do). The essays included here, including one by leading whiteness studies scholar David Roediger, are very helpful in seeing how the budding area of critical whiteness studies can further enrich our appreciation of contemporary visual art. The reproductions are fabulous, and the works included intriguing in the ways they can stimulate viewers to ponder race, and class (and even sometimes gender and sexuality). Humorous at times, these works (and essays) do not uniformly seek to confront white America with its racist past and present.

This is a book that richly deserves wider distribution, beyond the museum giftshop.