ABSTRACT
The concept of color is particularly ripe for tropological use because it already carries multiple meanings of otherness in Western culture. The study of color has been largely relegated to students and practitioners of the fine arts. Yet color has far-reaching implications for all disciplines of the humanities because it is "first and foremost a social phenomenon" that therefore possesses a cultural history. The scientific insistence on "white" as the normative baseline from which to measure and, ultimately, rank human difference resulted in the conscription of color into Victorian racial discourses. The example of "Bein' Green" captures the human impulse to discuss problematic social divisions through the distancing intermediary of color, an impulse that is the focus of this work. The cultural stigma of color that the academics identify is not just a historical trend–instead, it remains a contemporary reality. The chapter also presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in this book.
