Whiteness (in relation to McPherson's article)

Whiteness (in relation to McPherson's article)- McPherson mentions that the default race of white becomes the context of cyberspace when race is ignored. She illustrates this by example of her look into so-called Souther heritage sites, who claim that they want to preserve the confederacy o the old South. However she mentions that this only serves the interest of whiteness and protecting that as that was the only group that had anything to gain from the confederacy. She says the sites often ignore race, but by doing so create a context in which white becomes the only acceptable heritage because of the context of the confederacy and omission of the rest of southern heritage. She also mentions that these sites often mention ethnicity such as "Anglo-celtic" on p. 126. This is important in understanding whiteness and race because she mentions that mentioning ethnicities removes the consideration of white itself in this context. By avoiding whiteness as a race, and mentioning European ethnicities, the sites are attempting to destroy the meaning of whiteness in their issue, and as an issue as a whole in cyberspace.

Race and Racialization in Cyberspace

Race and Racialization in Cyberspace- All the readings dealt with this issue. The main theme throughout the readings was basically why race went unmentioned or ignored cyberspace when it is a part of the social context of reality. Their arguments hinged on the observation that when race goes unmentioned, the default race of white becomes the context for interaction therefore destroying race by assimilating it into whiteness. Kolko mentions this on p. 216 of her article as she says that when race becomes ignored, the default is white and racialization of whiteness happens as race overall is ignored. nakamura dealt with the fact of using images to set races apart from the Western cyberspace "tourist" and making it see mas if all are integrated, when instead they are simply being put on display for all to see. this destroys race because networking comapnies are destroying the meaning of race by making it seem you can only become a part of the virtual community if you become the default white. They do this, she mentions on pp.93-97 of her article, by putting cliche phrases along with the pictures as if to say the original race of the person is gone and now they have become Western. McPherson mentions on p. 125 of her article that neo-confederate sites mention that they want to protect their southern heritage by only protecting white heritage by glorifying the Civil War and the Confederacy. She says they feel protecting that heritage is protecting everyone's heritage. However, she makes a point in saying that it serves the interests of whiteness only because the Confederacy privileged only whites. By avoiding race directly, they have made it seem that race is not an issue. However, it is an issue because in the context of the sites, race is important becuase non-whites would not be interested in protecting the Confederacy. Race and Racialization in Cyberspace have meaning as race is often ignored, and the default raec of white becomes the context for interaction and viewing.

Cyberspace

Cyberspace - This term is used in different contexts in each of the readings. Cyberspace to McPherson meant the Internet, particularly websites. Her article mainly dealt with web sites finding ways around race, but were really espousing whiteness. Nakamura's article dealt with cyberspace as more then the internet, but the flow of media as well as she mentioned images which are developed in cyberspaec and then put into magazines by networking companies. Her article dealt with cyberspace in a media context as her article stressed how networking companies use ads to "bring people together" when really they set them apart as different by using cliche images. Kolko uses cyberspace in relating to interactions within it and interaction with it. She mainly talked aobut how race has become undefined in interacting with cyberspace and therefore the social construct of it becomes a default white and becomes a part of the program designer's ideology. Although cyberspace was used differently in each article, all three of them used cyberspace to illustrate if race is ignored or undefined, it becomes a default white race.

Heritage

heritage- The American Heritage Dictionary defines heritage as "Something that is passed down from preceding generations; a tradition." McPherson uses heritage in a different context in her article I'll Take My Stand in Dixie-Net: White Guys, the South, and Cyberspace as something hinting towards race. IN the article, she often mentions Southern heritage websites use as somethign relating to whiteness because these sites espouse the Lost Cause and the Civil War as something to be protected as a part of Southern heritage. She mentions their is a white connotation to this because it would onl benefit the whites in the South. On p. 125 she mentions one of the sites says protecting their heritage is protecting "YOUR" heritage. She interprets this as protecting whiteness instead of protecting actual Souther nheritage, which she tells is very diverse and rich.

@race

@race- This term is used by Kolko on p. 216 when mentioning online communities in which one can set their age, gender, interests, but mentions there is no @race property and that it is non-existent. But whenever one attempts to define a racial context, they are met with opposition and the default race is white. She mentions that the @race component is important because it puts interactions in the virtual world in an appropraite context. Without it, the world become s a default white world in which the idologies of the designer of the interface are the interactive rules.

Identity Tourism

Identity Tourism- This term is Nakamura 's title of her article Identity Tourism. She mentions the way netowrking companies use images of people of different ethnicities and cultures as tourism. She says that by promising to bring people together, they destroy other ethnicities. They showcase people who aren't white and put them up for view for the Western "tourists". These people aren't being brough together, but are rather being separated because of how different they are from the rest of society. On pp. 94-96 she gives the example of Sikander, an Indian man on an elephant whose image is used to advertise for a networking company. A caption on the image shows him saying he has a problem with his hardware. This doesn't bring him closer to the 'global community'; it destroys his identity and shows that he can only assimilate if he becomes how the company wants him to be. The main point Nakamura makes is that these companies put people of other ethnicites on display as if they were removed from the rest of the world and can only be brought in if thye become something else, more Westernized.

Race v. Ethnicity

Race v. Ethnicity- Race often dealt with large groups of people with something in common to classify them into a race, such as white or Asian or black. Ethnicity was more specific as it dealt with specific groups of people with a specific cultural background such as Portuguese, Jewish, or Japanese. Race was used to exclude minorities through the law as Takaki mentions on p. 273 that laws were passed to barr those that weren't white to attain citizenship. Also Brodkin mentions on p. 44 how the GI Bill favored those who were of the white race, but with no delineation of ethnicity within the white race. It was meant to exclude all other races. Ethnicity is mentioned in the video A Challenge To Democracy. The video mentioned that Japanese people would be sent to internment camps specifically, not Filipinos or Chinese. It targeted a specific culturally similar group of people rather than the all-encompassing Asian race that included people of other ethnicities. Both race and ethnicity were used to exclude those that weren't considered a part of white society.