Travelling Ideologies: A Story of Whiteness

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Published: Dec 1, 2015
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1515/lincu-2015-0042
Keywords:
white black ideology African-American South-East Asia

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Oana Cogeanu
Alexandru Ioan Cuza University of Iași, Romania

Abstract

Prompted by the observations of a European scholar in African-American studies living in South-East Asia, this article addresses the ideological value of whiteness with a view to understanding its apparently global aesthetic fascination and societal power. To this purpose, the article traces the European, American and Asian conceptualization and employment of the signs of whiteness. The first section investigates the correlated philosophical and scientific construction of whiteness as a racial signifier in Europe. The second section focuses on social and cultural practices of white vs. black identification and the critique thereof in the United States. The third section highlights the appeal of whiteness as a status signifier in Asia. Whiteness is commonly employed as a sign of superiority, assumed by the self or assigned to the other (within): the article suggests that such power derives from a common mystical symbolism, upheld by philosophy, sanctioned by science, implemented by social policy and marketed by corporations.

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How to Cite
Cogeanu, O. “Travelling Ideologies: A Story of Whiteness”. Linguaculture, vol. 6, no. 2, Dec. 2015, pp. 15-32, doi:10.1515/lincu-2015-0042.
Issue
Vol. 6 No. 2 (2015)
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Articles
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This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

Author Biography

Oana Cogeanu, Alexandru Ioan Cuza University of Iași, Romania

Oana Cogeanu, PhD, teaches English literature, cultural studies and translation studies at Alexandru Ioan Cuza University of Ia܈i, Romania. She authored an Introduction to African-American Travel Literature (2013); edited volumes in cultural studies (Wounded Bodies, Wounded Minds, 2014) and on intercultural issues (Travel and Intercultural Communication in Europe, 2016); and published articles on a range of authors and topics, with a special interest in African-American literature and a constant focus on travel writing. She gave lectures in cultural and translation studies at universities in several European countries and taught Romanian language, civilisation and culture in South Korea.

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