Reflecting on Experience

In her paper on white privilege, Peggy McIntosh explains how there are certain advantages to being white that gives you blind advantages in our American society. However, the white privilege concept is also relevant to the Australian society. Like the United States, Europeans came to Australia to colonize it, and in the process, displaced the native people. The result is a modern society built and maintained by European descendants. Inherently, white privilege in Australia is very similar to white privilege in the US.

As an American in Australia, I have not thought about the concept of white privilege too much before reading McIntosh's paper. Admittedly, I take for granted many of the things she listed, even in a different country and different culture. In my experience as a student here thus far, I have not noticed much of a difference in how I'm treated. On it's own, this is a privilege that I have been taking for granted. As an outsider to the society, I have felt very welcome as an American. McIntosh listed this feeling under one of the points that as a white American many of us take for granted: "I can be pretty sure that my neighbors in such a location will be neutral or pleasant to me" (McIntosh, 1988). For example, three of my friends and I went to the local brewery for dinner and were approached by a local. He said, "you scream American from across the bar." At first I was a little confused and taken aback, we talked for a while about living in Australia and comparing Australia to the United states. Then he bought us all drinks. He was very welcoming and made me feel at home in a foreign country. However, after reading McIntosh's paper, it made me wonder: if I came from a different culture, and if I was a different race, would I have had the same welcome? Or would I have felt out of place and unwanted?

The picture above shows my friends and I fishing our trip to the local mall waiting for the bus. It didn't even cross my mind to think I would be treated any differently than I was while at the mall, on the bus, or just in society in general. Not once did I feel like I was treated unequally or unfairly. This is just another example of how easy it is to take for granted the privileges that come with being white in the Australian society.

As a white American studying in Australia, I am still victim to the "Invisible package of unearned assets" that McIntosh equates to white privilege (McIntosh, 1988). Many of the privileges I take for granted in the United States and McIntosh lists in her paper, still apply to me while I'm a student in Australia. McIntosh also states that: "When I am told of our national heritage [United States] or about 'civilization,' I am shown that people of my color made it what it is" (McIntosh, 1988). Reflecting on that statement and tying that to my experiences as an American student in Australia, I have come to the conclusion that the concept of white privilege can be expanded to any country whose mainstream society or culture has been "developed" by a peoples of European decent.

McIntosh, Peggy. (1988) "White Privilege: Unpacking the Invisible Knapsack." in Ed. Paula S. Rothenberg, Race Class and Gender in the United States: An Integrated Study 4, 21988. 165-169.