Geography

Whitewash: White privilege and racialized landscapes at the University of Georgia

Document Type

Article

Abstract

This paper examines racialized landscapes at the University of Georgia to better understand the ways that whiteness-or more specifically white privilege-is positioned in and uses landscapes. Given a history of segregation, violently contested desegregation, and a contemporary student body that is disproportionately white (compared to the population of the entire state of Georgia), we investigate the meanings and contradictions of the University's historic 'North Campus'. Using a multi-method qualitative approach-including open-ended interviews and 'roving focus groups'-we argue that privileged, white landscapes operate through a kind of whitewashing of history, which seeks to deploy race strategically to create a progressive landscape narrative pertaining to 'race'.

Publication Title

Social and Cultural Geography

Publication Date

6-1-2008

Volume

9

Issue

4

First Page

373

Last Page

395

ISSN

1464-9365

DOI

10.1080/14649360802033882

Keywords

landscape studies, landscapes of memory, place identity, race, roving focus group, white privilege

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