ABSTRACT
The chapter focuses on whiteness as an ideology – a collection of beliefs and understandings about what race is and how social arrangements and practices can be racially structured. The chapter makes a theoretical overview of discussions over whiteness, with emphasis on the connection between whiteness, national identity and nationalism. It further examines the contours of the current crisis of whiteness, including the ways in which it is both similar to and different from past crises. Doane argues for the complexity of whiteness – its internal variability – and investigates how this influences the present situation. The chapter ends with a discussion about the future of whiteness, both as an ideology and as a system of domination. Doane asks, whether white supremacy can be eliminated without challenging capitalism, since these two are profoundly intertwined, and contends that an attempt to abolish whiteness by necessity requires a larger project of human liberation.
