"A Phenomenology of Whiteness" Sara Ahmed
In the second part of the text, Habit World inspired me. In this section, she claims that Whiteness holds through habits, but the words 'habit' and 'Inhabit' are different from each other but correspond. She said "To describe Whiteness as a habit, as second nature, is to suggest that Whiteness is what bodies do, where the body takes the shape of the action. Habits are not 'exterior' to bodies, as things that can be 'put on' or 'taken off.' If habits are about what bodies do, in ways that re repeated, then they might also shape what bodies can do." The idea she pointed out that habit is a part of body, it can shape what the body can do, but not vise versa is intriguing. The common knowledge about the 'habit' we are familiar with and body is always 'the appearance of specific habit because of a routine that our body is familiar with for a long time.
The idea 'habit' leads to a closer examination of Whiteness. Our body's habit causes a reaction when it encounters an unfamiliar object. The object is the one that is not yet in Whiteness. The institutional whiteness example she offers later explains this, which are the objects that are not invisible. And the habits made us noticing these objects that stand out. And inhabiting, which is a process of altering a visible object to the invisible. In her words, it is called comforting, which is "allowing bodies to extend into spaces that have already taken their shape." And the result of this process is the disappearance of bodies from view.
I think this part of the Whiteness phenomenon is very interesting because it clarifies the understanding of Whiteness is not the only mere color of white. In the first part, orientation is making this whole text blurry. For me, it seems like the entire text is racially based. Instead, it suggests a more social idea about an environmental participation and body reaction to a "shared space of dwelling."
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