Feminist Whiteness

Abstract

This chapter focuses on feminist whiteness, a concept it introduces and defines as the product of a process of political subjectivation as a white feminist. The concept captures the various repertoires that white feminists elaborate to talk about—or rather actively ignore—race relations of power and their own privileged positions in this racial order. The chapter traces how white feminists are constituted as political subjects through their relationship to nonwhite feminists, and to those whom they perceive and label as “bad” feminist subjects. It shows that debates on Islamic veiling have operated a shift in feminist whiteness, from feminist whiteness as ignorance to feminist whiteness as an active participation in national identity and femonationalist discourses. It also shows that feminist whiteness is multiple and varies across contexts. In France and Quebec, white feminists use different repertoires to address race issues. Some work around or evade race, while others recognize its political salience. These different forms of feminist whiteness are articulated with specific moral dispositions and emotions.