This introductory chapter provides a fragmentary overview (an ‘abbreviated history’) of significant moments in the conceptualization of whiteness in the South African context. Aspects of Steve Biko and Achille Mbembe’s ideas on whiteness are sketched—alongside those of Donald Moss and Sheldon George—as part of an account that blends personal narrative with a series of critical remarks on potential shortcomings of how whiteness is often invoked. I ask: what does it mean to think of whiteness not merely as a signifier, but as a phallic signifier? What, moreover, is the relevance of the Lacanian notion of subjective destitution when discussing whiteness? Furthermore: if we posit whiteness as effectively endless, as all-pervading, as without limit, does this not make it seemingly incontestable? Lastly, can research take the form of a bungled act?