Epistemic stitching of race, power, and modernity in recent work on white supremacy

Abstract

This essay examines the recent anthropological literature on white supremacy. We argue that this ethnographic literature presents innovative approaches for a theory of race, power, and capitalist modernity applicable to anthropology as a whole. To highlight this literature's analytical contributions, we pursue a close but not exhaustive review of recent studies of white supremacy, showing how ethnographers have expanded an influential theoretical foundation by braiding together or “epistemically stitching” their work on white supremacy to a variety of other theoretical conversations in anthropology. We suggest this epistemic stitching—an important form of theory-building in anthropology that creatively ties together theoretical conversations and leaves evidence of that labor—provides important insights into the workings of white supremacy by drawing together critical theories of race with several different theoretical influences, from new materialism and critical anthrohistory to studies of empire.