McIntosh as Synecdoche: White Privilege and Teacher Education

• In Event: Poster Session 16
  In Poster Session: Transformative Social Justice Practices in Diverse Contexts

Abstract

Our paper explores the limits and possibilities of a text that has become canonical in teacher education, Peggy McIntosh’s “White privilege: Unpacking the invisible knapsack.” Grounded in critical whiteness studies, and drawing on two narratives created in our pursuit of collective autoethnography as research method, we argue that the use of McIntosh’s work in teacher education ignores complications of social class and place and suggests to white people that the crucial action required of them is confession of privilege. Further, McIntosh’s work ends up functioning as a sort of ‘racism detection device’ in which the only way to be labeled a good white teacher is to agree with or submit to McIntosh’s account of how white privilege works.

Authors

• Timothy J. Lensmire, University of Minnesota - Twin Cities

• Audrey Lensmire, Augsburg College

• Zachary A. Casey, University of Minnesota

• Bryan Davis, Columbus School District

• Jessica Dockter Tierney, University of Minnesota

• Mary Elizabeth Lee-Nichols, University of Wisconsin - Superior

• Shannon McManimon, University of Minnesota