CoChat
Sign Up
Cited by 2,144Phenomenology and Existential PhilosophyFeminist Theory and Gender StudiesCritical Race Theory in Education

A phenomenology of whiteness

Ahmed, Sara·2007·Feminist Theory
DOI 10.1177/1464700107078139
Open this paper in CoChat — free account

Abstract

The paper suggests that we can usefully approach whiteness through the lens of phenomenology. Whiteness could be described as an ongoing and unfinished history, which orientates bodies in specific directions, affecting how they `take up' space, and what they `can do'. The paper considers how whiteness functions as a habit, even a bad habit, which becomes a background to social action. The paper draws on experiences of inhabiting a white world as a non-white body, and explores how whiteness becomes worldly through the noticeability of the arrival of some bodies more than others. A phenomenology of whiteness helps us to notice institutional habits; it brings what is behind to the surface in a certain way.

Integrity signals

Registry

Crossref · 10.1177/1464700107078139

Cites

38 of 38 references verified0 citation errors · 0 not checkable

Statistics

Recomputing p-values needs the paper’s full text.

Claims the paper makes

This paper’s full text isn’t openly available, so its claims and self-check weren’t run. The registry and citation checks still apply.

Claims other papers make about this one

Each is checked against this paper’s own text: does it say what the citing paper says it does?

  • The reality of the Western straight white male masquerades as the invisible background that is taken as the normal, standard, or universal position.

    “The reality of the Western straight white male then masquerades as the invisible background that is taken as the “normal,” “standard,” or “universal” position.”

    From Algorithmic injustice: A relational ethics approach (2021) · cites this paper as [17]

  • All bodies inherit history and the inheritance of Cartesianism is grounded in a white straight ontology.

    “Ahmed17 contends that all bodies inherit history and the inheritance of Cartesianism is grounded in a white straight ontology.”

    From Algorithmic injustice: A relational ethics approach (2021) · cites this paper as [17]

Cites

Flagged first, then by citations

Cited by

Sorted by citations

Related

Authors
Ahmed, S.
Affiliations
University of London (GB)
Corresponding author
Ahmed, Sara
Venue
Feminist Theory
Publisher
SAGE Publications
Published
2007-08
Volume
8
Issue
2
Pages
149-168
ISSN
  • 1464-7001 (ISSN-L)
  • 1741-2773
DOI
10.1177/1464700107078139
OpenAlex
W2129337885
Cited by
2,144
References
38
Citations by year
2026: 151 · 2025: 251 · 2024: 252 · 2023: 298 · 2022: 240 · 2021: 228 · 2020: 184 · 2019: 114 · 2018: 116 · 2017: 83 · 2016: 47 · 2015: 32 · 2014: 31 · 2013: 37 · 2012: 28
FWCI
14.07
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
closed
Licence
journals.sagepub.com/page/policies/text-and-data-mining-license (tdm)
Locations
Feminist Theory (publishedVersion)
Topics
  • Social Sciences › Psychology › Experimental and Cognitive Psychology › Phenomenology and Existential Philosophy
  • Social Sciences › Gender Studies › Feminist Theory and Gender Studies
  • Social Sciences › Sociology and Political Science › Critical Race Theory in Education
Keywords
whiteness, phenomenology, habit, embodiment, spatiality, social action, race

About these checks

Registry, retraction, Cites and statistics results are computed, not judged, with one exception: a printed reference that no index lists is read once by a model before it counts as a citation error. Claims are extracted by a model and kept only when their quote appears verbatim in the text; each cited source is then checked, with a model’s help, for whether it says what the claim relies on. Those verdicts can be wrong — read the claim’s quote and the cited source before relying on one.

Statistics and arithmetic are recomputed, not judged.

Confidence bands are shown only for fields calibrated on our annotated test set. None is calibrated yet, so no band is shown.

What counts as a claim ›How we measure confidence ›How we check this ›

Are you an author, or do you see a problem with this page? Request a review