‘Whiteness seeps through’: Resisting colorblind racism in Mandeville’s Travels

Abstract

Drawing on postcolonial and critical race theories, this essay argues that Mandeville’s Travels provides an influential example of medieval race-making that also plants the seeds for colorblind racism: a practice where white people who benefit from their white identity erect elaborate political and psychological arrangements that allow them to position themselves as blind to whiteness. After examining the role played by the Travels in inserting invisible, normative whiteness into early and enduring Western notions of self and other, the essay concludes with suggestions for practices that can allow medievalists to counter colorblind racism in their classes and elsewhere.