{"id":136264,"date":"2023-10-28T03:33:08","date_gmt":"2023-10-28T07:33:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.thecollegefix.com\/?p=136264"},"modified":"2023-10-28T17:16:32","modified_gmt":"2023-10-28T21:16:32","slug":"emory-u-puts-on-play-about-whiteness-as-a-paranoid-structure","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.thecollegefix.com\/emory-u-puts-on-play-about-whiteness-as-a-paranoid-structure\/","title":{"rendered":"Emory U. puts on play about whiteness as a ‘paranoid structure’"},"content":{"rendered":"

‘Whenever you put white people in the title of a play, people get tense, right?’<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

Emory University’s Tarbutton Performing Arts Center recently featured the play “Snowflakes, or Rare White People<\/a>,” which according to its professor\/director is an examination of whiteness as a “paranoid structure.”<\/p>\n

The play takes place in 23rd century “Nueva New York” where white people are a federally “protected population.” Two whites are brought to the Hall of Caucasian Peoples as a living exhibit.<\/p>\n

Original creator Dustin Chinn notes that a 19-century “Hall of Asian Peoples” exhibit at the American Museum of Natural History is the basis for his play’s premise.<\/p>\n

Professor Nick Fesette\u00a0<\/em>said his Emory production “seeks to turn this narrative of racism around,”\u00a0The Emory Wheel<\/em> reports<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a fictitious future or a speculative future, where white people have become a protected species, if you will, a protected group,\u201d Fesette (pictured) <\/em>said. \u201cIt\u2019s a satire of what\u2019s called the \u2018great replacement myth,\u2019 which is this idea that by 2040 something, white people will be the minority.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"photoIf you Google “great replacement theory\/myth” you’ll find many sources which describe it as a “dangerous,” “xenophobic,” and “anti-immigrant” white supremacist conspiracy theory.<\/p>\n

Last year, Emory African-American Studies Professor Carol Anderson claimed<\/a> the theory “reignited the historical need to ‘keep Black folks in check.’\u201d<\/p>\n

MORE:<\/strong> Shakespeare\u2019s plays could be \u2018triggering\u2019 due to lack of sexual consent<\/a><\/p>\n

Fesette admits his play is “very, very silly” but the humor “should not mask [its] true intention” — the “ingrained social structure of racism.”<\/p>\n

\u201cWhenever you put white people in the title of a play, people get tense, right?\u201d Fesette said. \u201cThat kind of tells us about whiteness. It tells us that whiteness is a kind of paranoid structure, a structure that we can\u2019t talk about \u2026 We can talk about Blackness, we can talk about people of color, we can talk about indigeneity\u2026 but don\u2019t talk about whiteness.\u201d<\/p>\n

The characters\u2019 names are evident ethnic stereotypes: The non-white characters are named Rigoberto Rogers, Hassan Hernandez, Fei Fong-Torres and Puja, while the white characters are named Benedict and Meghan.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s more than just representing stereotypes,\u201d Fesette added. \u201cIt\u2019s framing them in a certain way so that the audience understands that they are stereotypes.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

According to his faculty page, Fesette’s research interests include critical prison studies, abolition, theatre and social justice, and\u00a0 trauma theory. His\u00a0latest book “examines the prison state as a performing structure that continually re-stages race and class oppression.”<\/p>\n

MORE:<\/strong> Zimbabwean playwright tells Harvard: Europe is to blame for her country\u2019s woes<\/a><\/p>\n

Last chance to support student journalists<\/span><\/a> during our Back to School fundraising campaign! We’re very close to our goal of $25,000. The deadline for the matching offer is quickly approaching so please donate by Oct. 31<\/span><\/a> to help us meet the goal. Thank you!<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

IMAGES: WAYHOME studio\/Shutterstock.com; Emory U.<\/p>\n

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