Dead white males

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Dead white males or Dead White European Males (DWEM) is a derisive term referring to the tradition of thought and pedagogy that stresses the contributions of historic European males while ignoring other groups of people (individuals of non-European descent and women). This paradigm is closely associated with the Great Man Theory of history and the Great Books focus of educational essentialism and Educational perennialism.

The phrase "dead white males" (or "dead white men," "dead white guys" etc.) is a slang term used to criticize the emphasis on high culture in Western civilization in schools (especially those in the United States), as the majority of figures previously considered significant in Western civilization were white males who are usually dead. Critics of the traditional curriculum argued that it enshrined a particular world view that valued older European history, for example, over more recent American achievements. Critics also implied that traditional curriculum was subconsciously racist and sexist by ignoring the achievements of women and minority groups. A form of history viewed in a similar way is the "Great man theory" of history.

The term has gained widespread enough currency that it can appear in mass-market media. For example, in the film 10 Things I Hate About You (1999), an African-American high-school English teacher performs a rap version of a Shakespearean sonnet. Afterwards, he remarks that despite the fact that Shakespeare is merely a "dead white guy," he reassures the class that the playwright "knows his shit" and is still worth the attention.

Australian playwright David Williamson also satirised this approach to education in his play Dead White Males. In the production, the ghost of Shakespeare is shot by a radical post-structuralist lecturer.

See also

• Identity politics
• Political correctness
• Postmodernism
• WASP (White Anglo-Saxon Protestant)
• Missing white woman syndrome

References

External links

• Columbus As A Dead White European Male: The Ideological Underpinnings of the Controversy Over 1492, an essay from The World and I, a publication of The Washington Times, December, 1991
• Kudos to the grand old DWEM, an essay from the National Post, November 20, 1999
• John Searle, "The Storm Over the University," The New York Review of Books, December 6, 1990
• The Crime of White Maleness

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