Theoretical Frames to Interrogate Whiteness in Social Studies

• In Event: 47.091 - Marking the Invisible: Articulating Whiteness in Social Studies

Abstract

Papers in Group 1 explore a range of theoretical discourses. In the first paper, the author proposes and explicates AsianCrit as one of the most powerful theoretical viewpoints toward identifying and challenging White supremacy. As a branch of critical race theory (CRT), AsianCrit was developed to satisfy the need for a conceptual framework that centers on the racial realities of Asian Americans (Chang, 1993). This paper first explicates how AsianCrit-informed curriculum studies have troubled White supremacy by debunking curricular exclusion and misrepresentation of Asian Americans as perpetual foreigners or model minorities (author, 2017a, 2016a). Second, the paper highlights AsianCrit-informed research on K–12 classrooms and schools (author, 2009; Chae, 2013; Naseem Rodríguez & Ip, 2018). Although few, these studies have documented how Asian American teachers and/or students suffer from or resist White supremacy embedded in the sheer invisibility of Asian Americans in U.S. history curriculum, but a higher visibility and expectation of Asian Americans in academic multicultural events to perform as foreign, exotic others of Whiteness. Third, the paper shows how AsianCrit-informed research on teacher education has uncovered the marginalization of Asian American educators and pre-service students in White-centric teacher-education classrooms (author, 2017b, 2016b).

In the second paper, interrogating whiteness has served as a complex task in social studies education, given the proliferation of whiteness across social structures and contextual factors (Matias, 2016). Although critical race theory (CRT) and intersectionality have constructed a premise of distinct tenets captured within their respective overarching frameworks, both paradigms operate in a symbiotic relationship to undergird a foundation slanted towards equity, complexity, and social justice (Bilge, 2013; Bowleg, 2012, 2017; Carbado, Crenshaw, Mays, & Tomlinson, 2013). To expand theoretical connections of whiteness in an intersectional lens emanating from CRT, the presenters engage the following goals: (a) an overview of conceptual and empirical literature forging the relationship between intersectionality and CRT in social studies education; (b) foundational tenets and histories of intersectionality and CRT; and (c) co-constructing intersectional, action-based strategies informing social studies educational spaces with audience members.

Finally, in the third paper, the authors utilize a critical whiteness framework (Leonardo, 2013) to establish the longstanding emotional investments in whiteness that both white people and people of color have performed (Matias, 2016). This paper conceptualizes how and why educators must push back on the defensive claims of epistemological ignorance. But in doing so, it is important to acknowledge the emotional backlash / whitelash that will occur. Matias (2018) points out that even though whites “know” of examples of white supremacy in history (Native American genocide, chattel slavery, Japanese internment, etc.), “they are taught to act as if it never happened” (p. 9). What ensues are the hegemonic emotionalities of whiteness that are involved when white people are pushed to face the reality that racism is alive and well, despite their training to turn from it. This being so, we advocate for a critical whiteness approach to teaching history that debunks epistemological ignorance, while accounting for the emotionalities of whiteness.

Authors

• Sohyun An, Kennesaw State University

• Christian D. Chan, Idaho State University

• Jehan Hill, Idaho State University

• Sarah Baquet, Idaho State University

• Danielle Walker, University of Colorado - Denver

• Pete Newlove, University of Colorado - Denver