Despite hopeful—though problematic—proclamations about the end of racism after the election of our first African-American President, we are witnessing a backlash and renewed racism at this point in American and global history. Put simply, Critical Whiteness Studies (CWS) has as much exigency now as ever. Critical Whiteness Studies is an interdisciplinary project—with scholars from legal studies, literature and rhetorical studies, film and visual studies, class and feminist theorists, etc.—that contributes to critical race theory. Scholars tend to posit whiteness as an ideological,...

Despite hopeful—though problematic—proclamations about the end of racism after the election of our first African-American President, we are witnessing a backlash and renewed racism at this point in American and global history. Put simply, Critical Whiteness Studies (CWS) has as much exigency now as ever. Critical Whiteness Studies is an interdisciplinary project—with scholars from legal studies, literature and rhetorical studies, film and visual studies, class and feminist theorists, etc.—that contributes to critical race theory. Scholars tend to posit whiteness as an ideological,...