Thomas K. Nakayama

Whiteness: A strategic rhetoric

Communication scholars have often overlooked the importance of whiteness as an influence in their research. In this essay, we explore the territory of whiteness in order to map the discursive space it occupies. This mapping of the discursive space, or territory, of whiteness is the first step in the process of exposing whiteness as a rhetorical construction. We then discuss some of the rhetorical strategies through which whiteness resecures its discursive space. We conclude with three aspects of reflexivity that offer directions for further research.

Exploring whiteness: A study of self labels for white Americans

This study examines the preferences and meanings of labels for white Americans as discursively defined expressions of identity. Preliminary investigation revealed resistance by white Americans to self‐labelling, and led to this systematic study of preferred labels and the reasons underlying this resistance. In all, 371 white respondents completed a survey, rating seven labels in terms of preference, and gave meanings for these labels. They also discussed their feelings and opinions about the process of self‐labelling. The results reveal that the most preferred label is “White” and the least preferred is “WASP.” The authors interpret the findings from a multi‐perspectival position, incorporating critical as well as social psychological interpretations.

Show/down time: “Race,”; gender, sexuality, and popular culture

This essay analyzes the construction “race,”; gender, and sexuality in contemporary U.S. popular culture through an analysis of the Hollywood film, Showdown in Little Tokyo, and contemporary mass market magazine images. Focusing on the construction of Asian and white masculinity, this essay suggests ways that white heterosexual masculinity is recentered in U.S. popular culture. This essay also argues for the importance of spatial relations in constructing identities.

Dynamic Rhetorics of Race: California's Racial Privacy Initiative and the Shifting Grounds of Racial Politics

In October 2003, Californians voted in the high-profile gubernatorial recall election and on what is referred to as the “Racial Privacy Initiative.” The Initiative sought to prohibit the gathering of racial data in education and state employment. Unlike recent such initiatives addressing Californias racial laws, this one was unsuccessful: 62 percent of voters said no. This essay examines the discourse surrounding the initiative over its three-year history and traces the rhetorical dynamics that led to its defeat. The analysis details the implications of this moment for hegemonic processes in general and as they relate to the specifics of race.

Current and future directions in ethnicity and methodology

Abstract This essay explores current and future trends in scholarship at the intersection of ethnicity and methodology, from a paradigmatic perspective. It first identifies traditional social science notions regarding the conceptualization of ethnicity (as well as race) and describes several typical approaches to the study of ethnicity in intercultural relations. Then, three challenges to traditional epistemology and methodology in ethnicity studies are discussed: fallacy of objectivity, fallacy of homogeneity and monolithic identity, and the question of methodological ethics. Finally, potential contributions from interpretive and critical paradigms are outlined; these include the need to incorporate lived experiences and historical contexts in future investigations of ethnicity.

Strategic Social Identities and Judgments: A Murder in Appalachia

ABSTRACT This essay extends the work on Whiteness by using the tension between strategic and tactical rhetoric to demonstrate how social identities are reconfigured in the face of challenges to those identities. Through an examination of the media coverage of a murder in West Virginia, the authors argue that the tactical rhetoric from the African American and gay communities forced a reconfiguration of and distancing from the perpetrators by the White and heterosexual community. It extends the focus on Whiteness to include heterosexuality as privileged forms of social identity that function in strategic ways and use strategic discourses in the media.

City sites: Postmodern urban space and the communication of identity

Fragmented urban space combines elements of time and place that people use to negotiate their multiple identities. In this essay, we examine how Polish immigrants in Phoenix utilize particular locations to enact aspects of their ethnic identity. We argue that particular identity formations are articulated through configurations of space and that examination of spatial configurations gives us insights into enactment of ethnic identifications and the politics of multiple identifications. The postmodern urban environment contains fragmented and sometimes fleeting spaces that people seek out to communicate particular aspects of their identities.

Reconsidering intercultural (communication) competence in the workplace: a dialectical approach

Scholars and practitioners from a variety of disciplinary backgrounds (sociolinguistics, language education, communication, business, etc.) have investigated and promoted the notion of competence in intercultural interaction for many years. They have addressed complex issues and proposed culture general and culture specific models and applied these models in various contexts including workplace interaction. In this paper, we examine the assumptions about the cultural identities of workers in contemporary research and training in intercultural competence. These assumptions seem to reinscribe the colonialist traveler/cosmopolitan – focusing on individual characteristics, motivation, and skill sets, often through a Eurocentric lens. A dialectical perspective foregrounds individual characteristics of competence with larger societal attitudes and laws that impact the treatment of women, gays, and others. A dialectical perspective can help us better understand the opportunities and constraints facing different people in workplaces around the world. By complicating our understanding of competence and taking a dialectical perspective, we hope to advance theory and practice in this important topic area.

New Media, Old Racisms: Twitter, Miss America, and Cultural Logics of Race

This article examines the phenomenon of racist speech on social media, focusing on the controversy over racist tweets about the first Indian American Miss America, Nina Davuluri. The essay highlights tensions between “old” and “new” cultural logics about race. Specifically, it explores why such an “old” form of racist discourse, which explicitly imputes racial difference and exclusion, resurfaces on social media in the era of “new” or “color-blind” racism. Our study demonstrates the perseverance of racist discourse, its complementarity with ideologies of post-racialism, and the ways in which social networking technologies shape communication about race, culture, and identity.

What is the Role of the Communication Discipline in Social Justice, Community Engagement, and Public Scholarship? A Visit to the CM Café

In early December of 2010, the virtual doors of the CM Cafe were swung open. Seven scholars were invited to the opening*Sarah Dempsey (University of North Carolina), Mohan Dutta (Purdue University), Larry Frey (Trinity University, University of Colorado at Boulder), Bud Goodall (Arizona State University), Soyini Madison (Northwestern University), Jennifer Mercieca (Texas A&M University), and Tom Nakayama (Northeastern University). These scholars were invited to the Cafe to join in a discussion about social justice, community engagement, and public scholarship in the communication discipline, and all were excited to bring their experiences from various areas of the discipline*organizational communication, performance studies, applied communication, communication and culture, rhetoric, health communication*to the table in a wide-ranging conversation. The CM Cafe was facilitated through a private group on Facebook and remained open for about two weeks. As scholars arrived at this virtual Cafe, they often joined the conversation with brief introductions structured by questions posted on the chalkboard overhead. But through the days, new issues were introduced, old ones revisited, and scholars, media personalities, and others outside the Cafe walls were called forth in argument and support. The invited scholars popped in and out of the Cafe as their busy schedules allowed*some were able to linger over many cups of coffee, though others just stopped by for a quick bite and some conversation. Shelly Blair and I stood behind the counter and listened, throwing in only an occasional question or comment. I think it is safe to say that we were all challenged and enlightened by our time in the Cafe*the conversations managed to strike that precarious balance of cordiality and challenge that we strive for in academic debates. In the following pages, you will be privy to some of the comments and conversations that emerged during the December 2010 opening of the CM Cafe.