ABSTRACT
June Jordan has described how her understanding of whiteness changed from associating it with extremist groups like The Aryan Nation or the British National Party to something much more mundane and everyday (1995). She wrote, ‘I came to recognise media constructions such as “The Heartland” or “Politically Correct” or “The Welfare Queen” or “Illegal Alien” or “Terrorist” or “The Bell Curve” for what they were: multiplying scattershots intended to defend one unifying desire – to establish and preserve white supremacy as our bottom line’ (1995: 21). The difference here is that the ‘whiteness’ found in mundane, everyday culture is less obvious and visible. In fact, as Dyer argues, its power lies in its unspokenness and/or its deployment through code. This interest in whiteness from a left or an academic perspective is part of wider acknowledgement that white English are, indeed, just another ethnic group (Hall 1991: 21).
