Essay

Dreaming of a Self Beyond Whiteness and Isolation

Author: John A. Powell (Moritz College of Law, Ohio State University)

Abstract

In this Essay I want to engage racial boundaries and social boundaries in general. I want to poke them, prod them, and examine how these boundaries are constructed—not only in the structures and arrangements of our society, but within our processes of self-identification. I want to look at how we create these boundaries, and how they, in turn, create us. I assert that these external boundaries and manifestations of whiteness and internal white identity are linked at a deep level and that a better understanding of this relationship helps to explain why whiteness and racial hierarchy are still reproduced across all of our spaces from the most public to a space as private as our dreams.

Keywords: Critical race theory, Race preferences (Affirmative action)

How to Cite: Powell, J. A. (2005) “Dreaming of a Self Beyond Whiteness and Isolation”, Washington University Journal of Law and Policy. 18(1).