Whiteness as Ontological and the Social Construction of "Diversity" for the Sustenance of White Supremacy

• In Event: Sheraton Roundtable Session 31
  In Roundtable Session: Whiteness and White Supremacy in Education: Pedagogy and Power in K–12 and Higher Education

Abstract

The purpose of this conceptual essay is generally to critique whiteness, as a function of white supremacy and as the dominant ontology of U.S. society, and specifically to problematize racial “diversity” as a critical category within that ontology. Indeed, I will argue that a focus on racial diversity, as an ontological category, sustains whiteness. Thus, as we deploy this category in our written/spoken language and our official statements, we are reinforcing whiteness and thus white supremacy, which has powerfully damaging material effects on people and cultures of color. To interrupt and undermine the dominance of whiteness and its ontological categories, we must problematize racial “diversity” as one of those categories, which is the goal of this paper.

Author

• James Joseph "Jim" Scheurich, Indiana University - Indianapolis