El Tayeb, Fatima (2008) ‘The Birth of a European Public: Migration, Postnationality and Race in the Uniting of Europe’, American Quarterly, 60(3) (September): pp. 649–670
Main Arguments:
The main argument presented in the article is to discuss the past and the future of the continent. In this particular article, the author had tried to portray and develop a picture of the development of Europe since the post- cold war period. The author has discussed or included the following arguments. The post- national or the end of the nation- state had come into the picture with the development and initiation of globalization. Therefore, there had been an increasing crisis of identity within the continent. The lawmakers and the political leaders of the country had focused more on the making of the legal regulation that could apply to all and on to the economic system of the continent. The concept of globalization and the increased diversity within the lands of Europe had contributed to the identity crisis that was faced by all the members of the country. Another important issue that was met by the political leaders and the countrymen was the issues of migration. The paper highlights the problems related to migration, migrants and the whiteness.
Key Concepts:
The key concepts that have been identified by the author are the issues posed by globalization and the impact of the cold war upon the people of the continent. The revival of the populism and the concepts of extremism had a wide practice in the continent since the initiation of the age of globalization. Along with that, the exchange relationships between the continents and among the countries had changed and renamed. The theories that the author has included in the work are, the War on Terror Practice.
Along with that, the theory of identity crisis, the theory of public intellectuals by Jurgen Habermas, and Marcia’s theory of identity crisis have been included. Also, the immigration of the people to the lands of the continent had led to a situation of identity crisis in the continent. The author has also strategically analyzed the historical data, and along with that, has included a text analysis of the related works.
Criticism:
The particular study has helped in the understanding of the identity crisis of Europe. However, the considered work is completely based on the research articles and the opinions of the researchers and scholars with or very little focus on the views of the people of the country. Similar to the method of the study, the historical methodology also limited the scope of the research and reduced the validity of the domain.
Ahmed, Sara, 2007, “A phenomenology of whiteness”, in Feminist Theory, 8(2)
Main Arguments:
The main argument of the paper argues about the phenomenology of whiteness. It also looks at the concept of whiteness critically and therefore discuss the habitual anxiety faced or experienced by all the non-whited, non-European members of the country. The situation of immigrated people, especially the experiences of immigrated women of the country, can be effectively understood from the pieced, especially it provides an excellent theoretical aspect to understand about the anxiety community of the continent. In the paper, the author has used the theory of whiteness can be looked at through the lens of phenomenology. The author has tried to show how the concept of whiteness has become a measurable tool over the time. The theorist has personally developed an orientation theory of the white people. However, along with that, the author has included the theory of Race, Class, and Gender by Rose Brewer, the theory of Black Women and Justice by Patricia Collins, and has incorporated the Theory of Practice by Pierre Bourdieu.
Key Concepts:
The key concepts are gender, race, culture, anxiety, community, and whiteness. The author used the concepts of whiteness provided by Richard Dyer and stated that talking or discussing whiteness can lead it to become a particular social category to be experienced or as a social measure. The author further mentioned that to explain the concept of inhabitance, it is important to mention the concept of whiteness, which led to another argument of the emergence of white studies. The author has effectively used the concept of whiteness as developed by Ruth Frankenberg, whose theory has been considered initially. The author has used the concept of whiteness and has further related the same to the concepts of invisibility and inhabitance. She has used the concept of whiteness to the explanation of racism and has explained how the concept has escalated the practice of racism in the country.
Criticism:
The entire paper is based on the experiences that the author had come across at different points of her life. It is a narration, and the work includes a rigorous secondary analysis with personal experiences. The entire paper is based on the experiences of the author related to her inhabitant and the racial discrimination she faced while she stayed in the country. This particular theory is based on the personal experience of the author. Though it includes several sociological studies and theories, yet it has a reliability issue.
Frankenberg, Ruth, 1992, “Introduction: Points of Origin, Points of Departure” in White Women. Race Matters: The Social Construction of Whiteness. pp 1-22
Main Arguments:
The prime argument of the study is to develop an understanding of how racial activities shaped the experiences and lives of both the white and the non- white women. The main argument of the author is that thee racial activities and behaviors shape the lives and the experiences of white women. The author is of the opinion that the social measures or the social categories shape the experiences and the lives of everyone, and the social categories include the orientation of sexuality, gender, and racial activities or behaviors. The book provides a necessary analysis of how, over the time, whiteness had s become a social and racial category. It has a clear standpoint and has a diversified dimension, which includes the various experiential difference that is associated with the racial behavior made towards the non- whites.
Key Concepts:
The key concepts that the author has included or proposed the concept of whiteness, and therefore she had further made a standpoint where she included and clarified and defined the concept of whiteness properly and has also related the same with the concept of gender. The work of Frankenberg had created enormous responses amongst the researchers, and the scholars and many scholars had included these concepts and the approaches in their works. It is an excellent work on race and gender, and this had been included in the explanation of gender and education, gender and race, and in the studies of sexuality. The concept of whiteness had gained huge popularity, and many works had been done on the same. She included the case studies to establish the stand, and thereupon has evaluated each of these case studies with the help of the gender theories.
Criticism:
The book provides in-depth qualitative research, and it is one of the finest reads, which includes 30 case studies. It consists of the experiences of 30 women and provides a detailed analysis of the experiences that they have shared. Therefore, the book provides a detailed qualitative, and descriptive analysis. However, since the book is completely based on shared experiences, therefore it does not include any quantitative analysis of the studies. The lack of a quantitative approach leads to a lack of the validity and the reliability of the collected data and the data analysis process.
References:
Ahmed, S., 2007. A phenomenology of whiteness. Feminist theory, 8(2), pp.149-168.
El-Tayeb, F., 2008. ” The Birth of a European Public”: Migration, postnationality, and race in the uniting of Europe. American Quarterly, 60(3), pp.649-670.
Frankenberg, R., 1993. White women, race matters: The social construction of whiteness. U of Minnesota Press.
