Scholars unearth new field: white studies

When America confronts race, it casts a keen eye on blacks, Latinos, native Americans, Asians - everyone, it seems, except whites.

Whites have historically dominated the United States, and their ideas and values largely have shaped the culture. But only supremacists talk about "white culture." Everyone else keeps mum.

But in the past few years, some "white studies" scholars have begun breaking the silence. To understand the nation's racial diversity, they argue, it's crucial to understand the characteristics and privileges of America's largest racial group. Especially now, since for the first time white majority status looks threatened.

Hispanics - who are defined as an ethnicity, not a race, in the census - hold the key to the nation's demographic identity. If large numbers of them identify themselves as white, then white society will predominate in the US (albeit with a Latino flavor) for decades to come. If Hispanics forge a separate identity, then somewhere around mid-century, the non-Hispanic white population will fall into minority status and the nation could enter a new era defined by a multicultural center.

"Whatever that racial center is, it's still going to be in many ways culturally white," says Jeff Hitchcock, executive director of the Center for the Study of White American Culture, a private nonprofit group based in Roselle, N.J. "But for someone who wants to be only white, it's going to be a little difficult for them."

Three out of 4 Americans describe themselves as exclusively white. Throw in the 5.5 million people who describe themselves as white as well as one or more other races, and the share climbs to 77.1 percent of the US population - a higher proportion than existed in 1830.

Whites hold majorities in all but one state (Hawaii), according to a census report released Monday. Maine and Vermont have the largest white populations (97.9 percent). Mississippi (61.9 percent) and California (63.4 percent) have the smallest white majorities. Not surprisingly, whites are concentrated in the 10 largest states, which happen to hold the most sway in electing American presidents. Of the 10 largest cities in the US, Phoenix has the highest proportion of whites (74 percent) followed by San Antonio (71 percent). Detroit has the lowest share (14 percent).

With such numerical advantage, it's little surprise that whites hold most of the levers of power in the US. But notions of white culture fell into disrepute with the civil rights movement of the 1960s. That's another reason few people talk of white culture nowadays - it sounds racist.

In fact, many minority scholars who study race welcome the emergence of white studies. "It's like putting a microscope on their culture," says Ray Winbush, director of the Race Relations Institute at historically black Fisk University in Nashville, Tenn. "We have black studies, women's studies, Latino studies.... The fact of the matter is that white culture needs to be discussed in depth."

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