Cities of Whiteness

by Wendy S. Shaw

Overview

In Cities of Whiteness, Wendy S. Shaw challenges existing ideas about urban change, race and cosmopolitan urbanism. By questioning the notion of white ethnicity and engaging with Indigenous peoples’ experiences of whiteness, past and present, Shaw provides new ways of seeing cities and of conceptualizing the processes of power that are at work within them. In doing so, she pushes the boundaries of critical race studies in Geography and studies of the city more broadly.

Cities of Whiteness follows three main theoretical trajectories: it highlights the weaknesses of current theories of whiteness; it demonstrates how urban transformation is imbued with processes of whiteness; and it gives an account of formations of power. Shaw grounds her analysis using Sydney as an example of a “city of whiteness”, considering trends such as Sydney’s 'SoHo Syndrome', the 'Harlemization' of the Aboriginal community, and the 'Manhattanizing' of Sydney as it has evolved vertically.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781444399714
Publisher:	Wiley
Publication date:	07/18/2011
Series:	Antipode Book Series , #27
Sold by:	JOHN WILEY & SONS
Format:	eBook
Pages:	232
File size:	2 MB

About the Author

Wendy S. Shaw is a Senior Lecturer in Geography at the University of New South Wales. Her research interests include the meanings of heritage in Australia and other Pacific places, the impacts of high-rise developments, and the status of Indigenous peoples in Australia and around the world.

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Table of Contents

List of Figures     ix
List of Boxes     x
Acknowledgements     xi
Introduction     1
Encountering Cities of Whiteness     11
Journeying to Inner Sydney     14
Cities as Cultural Constructions

What People are Saying About This

From the Publisher

“Cities of Whiteness is an important contribution to our understanding of how race works in the postmodern city. It shows in clear and convincing detail how whiteness is bound up with property, heritage and fear.”
–Alastair Bonnett, Newcastle University

“Wendy S. Shaw writes with passion, with political commitment, carefully and engagingly, and with the kind of gallows humour that can be expected in grim situations. Her subtle and always empirically-grounded analysis astutely picks at the invisible structures of racialization that underpin white privilege and power. Sydney and New York, after Cities of Whiteness, are not such virtuous cities of multiculturalism. Instead, we see these cities afresh, complete with their promiscuous and particular processes of white superiority.”
–Steve Pile, The Open University

Editorial Reviews

Cities of Whiteness is an important contribution to our understanding of how race works in the postmodern city. It shows in clear and convincing detail how whiteness is bound up with property, heritage and fear.”
Alastair Bonnett, Newcastle University

“Wendy S. Shaw writes with passion, with political commitment, carefully and engagingly, and with the kind of gallows humour that can be expected in grim situations. Her subtle and always empirically-grounded analysis astutely picks at the invisible structures of racialization that underpin white privilege and power. Sydney and New York, after Cities of Whiteness, are not such virtuous cities of multiculturalism. Instead, we see these cities afresh, complete with their promiscuous and particular processes of white superiority.”
Steve Pile, The Open University

From the Publisher