Performing Sociology at a Music Festival

Abstract

The white woman has been a central figure in second wave feminism. Conceptualised variously as an embracing character allured by racial difference by Mica Nava (2007) or as a racist oppressor by Hazel Carby (1992) among others, she has emerged in various disguises which all point to her centrality in feminist and anti-racist movements. This article considers The Chamber of White, a video performance that reconfigures this historical figure in contemporary relations. It explores how the performance enables an affective experience of white femininities by inviting audience members to engage in different affective states. The question is discussed how to do sociology – a sociological research on whiteness and gender– through the intensive, the performative and affective dimensions of art. It is argued that the performance expands on the concept of “live sociology” (Back and Puwar 2012), whereby through doing an artful sociology the affective and sensory aspects of sociality are not simply reflected but enacted in order to critically examine the affective power of whiteness in a feminist context.