Mapping the “Social Field of Whiteness”: White Racism as Habitus in the City Where History Lives

Abstract

In contemporary studies of blackness, scholars are responding to the need for more nuanced representations of everyday life to illustrate the commonalities and divergence of negotiating whiteness. In this essay, I situate the Gullah/Geechee within ongoing struggles for accurate representation and access to power across the contested landscapes of the “New South.” More specifically, I interrogate three economic strategies of urban development—urban renewal, historic preservation, and heritage tourism—as contemporary manifestations of white racism. I begin by defining the Gullah/Geechee as a cultural group within their own situated predicament. Next, I operationalize “the social field of whiteness” and “white racism as habitus” as tools for the subsequent discussion. Finally, I zoom in for a closer look at Charleston, South Carolina, as a local site of this increasingly global process. Throughout this essay, I demonstrate how these particular strategies of urban development serve as “security checkpoints” in the maintenance of race‐based inequality across the broader “social field of whiteness.”

Minority Community Resilience and Cultural Heritage Preservation: A Case Study of the Gullah Geechee Community

“…Potential impacts of any development on cultural stability of the Gullah and community cohesion need to be assessed and measured [23]. As such, it is important to better understand drivers of inequalities [63] and how these, together with other social processes, shape the vulnerability of the Gullah Geechee community and aggravate risks to changing climate. Strengthening gender equality, particularly the adaptive capacity of Gullah Geechee's women, can help to enhance their community resilience and reduce vulnerability to climate change hazards.…”

“…In Figure 5 is shown a schematic cycle through which minority and/or marginalized community resilience could be built. As discussed in sub-Section 3.2, Gullah Geechee community has been facing inter-community conflicts ranging from gentrification, community displacement, and access to power and healthcare (e.g., [5,23,63]). Therefore, implementing conflict resolution strategies such as material or nonmaterial reparation (e.g., [25]) is an important step in creating resilience in such a minority community.…”

‘Your President Is Not Black!’: Jamaican Reflections On Identity, Race, Class, and (Global) Politics

“…In her analysis of Charleston, South Carolina, Melissa Hargrove () contends that white racism in the United States is a habitus, in the tradition of Bourdieu. In accordance with his theory, Hargrove argues that there is a craft, the practices that reinforce the social hierarchy, and the beliefs that birth them (2009).…”

“…Tracing the origins of racism from the colonial period forward, Norman Girvan (), like Oliver C. Cox () and Hargrove (), identifies two essential qualities of institutionalized racism: the ideology and the lived reality of racialized identity. Girvan points to critical perspectives that have challenged each component, such as Marcus Garvey's Black nationalism and political movements, which aim to improve the economic deprivation that is inbuilt into institutionalized racism, particularly Marxist‐oriented alternatives to capitalism (1975).…”

Shattering Slave Life Portrayals: Uncovering Subjugated Knowledge in U.S. Plantation Sites in South Carolina and Florida

“… 8. Another way that African American history and presence in the Mount Pleasant community is being culturally and politically recognized and sustained is through efforts by the Gullah–Geechee community (Gibbs 2006; Hargrove 2009; Matory 2005; Pollitzer 1999). The Gullah–Geechee are a self‐identified ethnic group and community comprised of descendants of enslaved Africans brought to United States to work on Sea Island rice plantations.…”