Whiteness-at-Work in Higher Education

Session Type: Symposium

Abstract

Whiteness is at work everywhere (Yoon, 2012). Since Yoon’s conceptualization of whiteness at work among white K-12 teachers, few publications have focused on whiteness within higher education interactions. While these studies offer a foundation, we draw on the paradox within Yoon’s concept, as well as previous work to explore how whiteness ‘works’ in higher education.

In this symposium, we show how whiteness is normalized and the many subtle and explicit ways it manifests in higher education, including in the classroom, in co-curricular programming, advising, and amongst faculty. Drawing on the theme of the AERA 2020 annual meeting, we will offer research on whiteness in higher education to highlight its effect on stakeholders, lest it go unchecked.

Sub Unit

• Division J - Postsecondary Education / Division J - Section 6: Society, Culture, and Change

Chair

• Naomi Nishi, Colorado State University - Fort Collins

Papers

• The Paradox of Whiteness-at-Work in Academic Advising - Geneva L. Sarcedo, University of Colorado - Denver

• What's in a Name? The Paradoxes and Possibilities of a White Antiracist Campus Group - finn j. schneider, University of Minnesota - Twin Cities

• Introductions as a Site for Whiteness-at-Work: Everyday Enactments of [Whiteness] in University Settings - Orkideh Mohajeri, West Chester University of Pennsylvania

• Front-Stage, Stealth White Racial Bonding in College STEM - Naomi Nishi, Colorado State University - Fort Collins

Discussant

• Irene H. Yoon, University of Utah