Marked and managed: performing a “good” White identity in non-White spaces

ABSTRACT

As dominant group members, Whites tend to experience race as a low salience identity, particularly in interactions in White settings with other Whites. Using data collected from in-depth interviews with White partners in interracial relationships, this paper analyses what happens when Whites enter non-White settings and become racially marked. How do Whites understand the meaning of their Whiteness in these settings and what strategies do they use to manage others’ impressions? White participants reported experiencing hypervisibility, a sharp awareness of their racial identity, and heightened apprehensions about being perceived as potentially racist and culturally inept. Consequently, participants made conscious changes to their behaviours (e.g. body language, food consumption), speech, and appearance as a means of signalling a “good” White identity and establishing belonging in spaces where they were marked as racial and cultural outsiders.

KEYWORDS:

• Race
• White identity
• racial identity management
• interracial relationships
• impression management
• symbolic boundaries

Acknowledgements

I am grateful for the feedback I received from a supportive writing group. Thank you, Megan Underhill and Eileen O’Brien, for your helpful comments, conversation, and encouragement.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Ethical approval

This research was determined to pose no to minimal risk to subjects and thus, received human subjects exemption and approval from the University of Cincinnati institutional review board (IRB).

Additional information

Funding

This manuscript is derived from the author's doctoral dissertation, which was supported by the University of Cincinnati Charles Phelps Taft Research Center and the University of Cincinnati Kunz Center for Social Research.