Hoax Essay on 'Racism' of White Milk Against Black Coffee Wins Praise in Swedish University

Among other things, the essay suggested that white milk takes away the unique properties of black coffee, "domesticates", and "controls" it, making a point about "drink-based colonisation". The author of the essay went on to rhetorically ask readers "what on earth was happening to our bastions of education".

A hoax paper in critical whiteness that problematises the use of white milk in black coffee as racist, has been accepted by Stockholm University and even received some praise.

The essay called "Black and white drinks" was written by 27-year-old Arvid Haag and framed as an "account of what happened from the early 20th century in the struggle between coffee and milk".

In the essay, Haag described how the marketing of coffee has been characterised by highlighting the "black and exotic elements" of the drink. With milk, however, "the local and the white" was emphasised, the news outlet Fria Tider reported.

"The question one may ask is whether it is really a reconciliation between milk and coffee that has occurred or whether adding milk to the coffee is a way to take away coffee's unique properties and instead impose white properties on the black drink", Haag wrote, labelling it "drink-based colonisation" and arguing that milk "controls" and "domesticates" coffee.

The essay was ultimately given a B, or "very good". According to the news outlet, the course coordinator further commented that it was an "exciting topic", lauded the author for "creative thinking", and suggested that it could very well be expanded into a longer paper.

"The joke went completely over his head. His only criticism is that I did not have exact source references on my photos", Arvid Haag told Fria Tider. By his own admission, he chose a "rather bizarre subject" and took it to another level. "It took about three hours to write the text, and I added links to books I haven't read", he added.

Haag called the course rather fuzzy, adding that he is none the wiser after completing it.

"I still don't understand what critical whiteness perspectives really mean and no one seems to be able to explain that".

In a tweet with a link to his paper, Haag urged his compatriots to read it and think "what on earth is happening to our so-called bastions of education".

So-called critical whiteness studies, which proceed from the idea of the inherent "privilege" of the white race and investigates its sources of "systemic racism", has been a popular trend in left-wing ideology since late 20th century and is currently gaining a lot of traction in the US and around the world.

In Sweden, critical whiteness studies as a subject were pioneered by researcher and political activist Tobias Hübinette of Karlstad University, the co-founder of the anti-racist newspaper Expo together with the late writer Stieg Larsson.

Stockholm University has since jumped on the bandwagon by offering courses in "Critical whiteness perspectives on Nordic culture".