The Everyday Language of White Racism

Reviews / Votes

"Recommended [to] Most levels/libraries." (CHOICE, November2009) "This book makes an important contribution to the body of criticalrace scholarship in deconstructing how language is used toperpetuate racism and in doing so validates the author'schallenge to the common assumption that 'white racism has goneunderground.'" (People with Voices, April 2009)"Resonating far beyond its focus on the US, this is a lucid,compelling, committed and highly original account of thefundamental aspects of routine language that help racism thriveamidst its everyday denial." -Professor Ben Rampton, King's College London "The Everyday Language of White Racism is an extremelyimportant book. Jane Hill raises readers' awareness for thepotential danger which confronts all of us; i.e. that 'race' andracially based practices which are frequently expressed in indirectand covert ways would become part of common sense and thusessentialized. This is also a very timely book because it points usto the many instances in everyday life where discrimination stilloccurs and proposes ways how to challenge social exclusion." -Ruth Wodak, Distinguished Professor of DiscourseStudies, Lancaster University "Hill's academic credentials give her the authority to writethis disquieting book. The care she uses to make her case willcompel even skeptics to reconsider the way they speak about otherpeople." -Otto Santa Ana, University of California, LosAngeles "For the many Americans who believe that racism is on thedecline in the contemporary United States, The Everyday Language ofWhite Racism will be both eye-opening and thought-provoking.Challenging the commonsense belief that racism is rooted inindividual, intentional feelings of hatred or prejudice, Jane Hillshows that racism is produced through language in which raciststereotypes circulate, whether deliberately, unwittingly, orsomewhere in between. Hill's magisterial command of a widerange of scholarship provides rich theoretical and politicalcontext for her acute analyses of racist language in the media,public discourse, and private talk. The result is an engaging andimportant discussion of the enduring yet often invisible presenceof racism in American daily life." -Mary Bucholtz, Department of Linguistics, Universityof California, Santa Barbara