DeKalb GA News

Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois, will offer a course titled "Unsettling Whiteness" next semester. This course is part of the university's Department of Black Studies and aims to examine "the historical, political, and cultural formation of whiteness in Western modernity," according to its description.

The course is taught by Barnor Hesse, who serves as the Director of Undergraduate Studies for the department and is an Associate Professor of Black Studies, Political Science, and Sociology. Hesse's academic background includes a PhD in Government from the University of Essex in the United Kingdom. His research interests span various fields including "Black Political Thought," "Political Theory," and "Critical Race Studies."

Hesse has developed concepts related to white identities within his work. He states: “There is a regime of whiteness, and there are action-oriented white identities. People who identify with whiteness are one of these. It’s about time we build an ethnography of whiteness since white people have been the ones writing about and governing Others.”

Hesse categorizes these identities into eight types: White Supremacist, White Voyeurism, White Privilege, White Benefit, White Confessional, White Critical, White Traitor, and White Abolitionist.

This upcoming course at Northwestern University continues to draw attention amid ongoing discussions around race and identity in higher education.