Mayberry: A Critical Review

Growing up I loved The Andy Griffith Show, from the whistled theme song (I even know the un-sung lyrics) to the idyllic North Carolina backdrop to the ridiculous antics of the playfully paranoid deputy Fife, this television show helped shaped my version of the American Life 'back then'.  Now, as a critically thinking adult, it still maintains it's luster, albeit in a slightly different fashion.  I am fascinated  by the fact that many facets of American cultural iconography do not include people of color.  This fact of our past inspires me to help dismantle the restrictive forces of white privilege and facilitate a more inclusive (and realistic) approach to the cultural landscape.  In that same vein, allow me to share Peggy McIntosh's "Unpacking The Invisible Knapsack".   Peggy McIntosh is the associate director of the Wellesley Collage Center for Research on Women. This essay below is excerpted from Working Paper 189. "White Privilege and Male Privilege: A Personal Account of Coming To See Correspondences through Work in Women's Studies" (1988).  Its available for $4.00 from the Wellesley College Center for Research on Women, Wellesley MA 02181.  The working paper contains a longer list of privileges. This excerpted essay is reprinted from the Winter 1990 issue of Independent School.

Enjoy!