Analysis Of Katherine Benton-Cohen's The White West
The United States continually reuses the western narrative as a uniquely white American concept. In almost every case, they mean a “white wild west” with Native Americans as a single people being the antagonist. Through these stories, the United States’ cultural values that so many of the population idealize are created and reaffirmed in these stereotypical narratives. In reality, the West was never completely white at all; rather, the West had people from all walks of life living and trying to succeed all over its region. Through three different texts, they each reaffirm the idea that the West was racially and culturally diverse, even when propaganda and other mediums advertised a “white West.”
Starting with Katherine Benton-Cohen’s “The White …show more content…
Through focusing on a specific town, the United States census, and a fictional story, a clear picture of why the West was pictured as white emerges. The fluctuation of the definition of what “white,” “black,” and all ethnicities in between allowed capitalistic companies to use this to their advantage through dividing workers based on their race. Even so, these narratives are still diverse compared to the popular myth of a “white west,” when in reality the West was never completely white to begin with for the United …show more content…
Using the present census, the American West has “four of the seven most basic choices associated” with the region. (West, p. 554) While past census polls may not have had such a diverse amount of choices to pick from, it shows how the notion of race became more complex and complicated as the years and decades continued in the United States. Furthermore, with a lack of a rigid option of race and ethnicities to choose from, it was many times up to the individual to decide whether they considered themselves white, black, or ‘other,’ even further adding to the confusion of what and who determines a social construction aspect of a person’s identity. Thus, “Expanding the Racial Frontier” puts into question the white west, by going further up and questioning what and how does race evolve in the United
Starting with Katherine Benton-Cohen’s “The White …show more content…
Through focusing on a specific town, the United States census, and a fictional story, a clear picture of why the West was pictured as white emerges. The fluctuation of the definition of what “white,” “black,” and all ethnicities in between allowed capitalistic companies to use this to their advantage through dividing workers based on their race. Even so, these narratives are still diverse compared to the popular myth of a “white west,” when in reality the West was never completely white to begin with for the United …show more content…
Using the present census, the American West has “four of the seven most basic choices associated” with the region. (West, p. 554) While past census polls may not have had such a diverse amount of choices to pick from, it shows how the notion of race became more complex and complicated as the years and decades continued in the United States. Furthermore, with a lack of a rigid option of race and ethnicities to choose from, it was many times up to the individual to decide whether they considered themselves white, black, or ‘other,’ even further adding to the confusion of what and who determines a social construction aspect of a person’s identity. Thus, “Expanding the Racial Frontier” puts into question the white west, by going further up and questioning what and how does race evolve in the United