I remember how much pushback — and even mockery — I had to fight against when I first set out to do an ethnography of white people. but now that white supremacy and racism are ‘trendy’ issues, suddenly I’m praised for ‘innovative’, ‘timely’, ‘important’ research.

this sudden shift in attitude made me realize just how corporatized and neoliberalized the academy and anthropology are. ‘trendy’ often translates to ‘competitive for funding’, and therefore monetizable. but white supremacy and racism aren’t ‘trendy’ or even recent issues,

for Black people and poc. they’re things that keep causing pain and trauma generation after generation. they aren’t issues to intellectualize and theorize with. instead, they’re issues that deeply affect our existence, everyday lives and conduct, our selfhood.

and positionality also plays a role here: I, a woman of colour, was met with derision and pushback — but would the same have happened to a white anthropologist? or would they have been called innovative and creative from the get-go?

and it’s also telling that I’m getting praises but no funding. it’s like they want to see the research but only as something separate from me as an anthropologist of colour. this really begs the age-old question ‘who gets to study whom?’ — and why?