ABSTRACT

This introductory essay outlines and contributes to fulfill the major goals of this special issue: 1) The examination of whiteness in Latin America in its articulation with broader social hierarchies, and 2) The development of a conceptual and theoretical roadmap for the study of whiteness in the region. The essay is divided into five substantive sections through which we develop our main arguments. In the first section, we offer a brief and admittedly incomplete overview of the literature on race in Latin America, paying particular attention to how whiteness was, until recently, rendered peripheral or entirely absent. In the second section, we consider the concept of ‘ordinary whiteness’ and its usefulness for capturing the often taken-for-granted aspects of white privilege and the everyday ways through which whiteness organizes routines, perspectives, subjectivities, and affects. In the third section, we approach the intersection of race and class to examine the materiality of whiteness in the multiple forms of economic, cultural, and symbolic capital. In the fourth section, we examine the politics of race, space, and (im)mobility in the production of whiteness in the region. In the last part, we conclude with a commentary on the methodological and epistemological challenges of studying whiteness in Latin America.

摘要

这篇介绍性文章概述并有助于实现本期特刊的主要目标：1）在与更广泛的社会等级制度的联系中检查拉丁美洲的白人，以及 2）制定研究白人的概念和理论路线图该区域。这篇文章分为五个实质性部分，我们通过这些部分来展开我们的主要论点。在第一部分中，我们对拉丁美洲的种族文献进行了简要且公认不完整的概述，特别关注直到最近，白人是如何被边缘化或完全消失的。在第二部分中，我们考虑了“普通白人”的概念及其在捕捉白人特权中经常被视为理所当然的方面以及白人组织例程的日常方式方面的用处，观点、主观性和影响。在第三部分，我们探讨了种族和阶级的交叉点，以检验白人在经济、文化和象征资本的多种形式中的重要性。在第四部分，我们考察了该地区白人生产中的种族、空间和（不）流动性政治。在最后一部分中，我们以对研究拉丁美洲白度的方法论和认识论挑战的评论作为结尾。