Rediscovering the Conflict Zone: Can the Subaltern Redefine the Theory?

• In Event: Our Voices, Our Turn: Complexifying Critical Whiteness Studies With Black, Indigenous, and People of Color Scholarship

Abstract

Objectives
In this conceptual essay, I ask what it means to understand Asian women’s experiences through the lens of Critical Whiteness Studies (CWS). I will explore how the nature of Whiteness—inherently heteropatriarchal and heteropaternal—plays a role in shaping the narratives and experiences of Asian women. We are at the critical juncture of a paradigm shift where the holistic, integrated employment of CWS by BIPOC scholars is necessary in order to pursue renewed knowledge by engaging us in enriched dialogues in the post pandemic world. This essay attempts to provide a more holistic lens to examine the positionality of those who use the theory and those who are theorized in relation to Whiteness. As such, I use Asian women’s contextualized experiences in order to examine the intertwined ideas of Whiteness, heteropatriarchy, hetropaternity, and the model minority narrative, while suggesting the divergent use of the theory in order to fill the gaps felt by BIPOC scholars. Beyond Asian women scholars’ perspective is the more participatory, wholistic, integrated employment of CWS by BIPOC scholars, legitimizing the use of the theory with a sense of ownership and advancing the theory through the praxis of decentering Whiteness and recentering autonomy and participation by all, which should be an ultimate goal of CWS, rather than being considered a dangerous, polarizing theory.

Theoretical Perspective(s)
Drawing on Native feminist theories (Arvin, et al., 2013) and Asian and Asian American feminist perspective (Valverde & Dariotis, 2019), Critical Whiteness Studies is utilized to examine the “conflict zone” where a White and Other construct within the heteropatriarchal colonial discourse shapes and impacts Asian women’s experiences.

Methods/Modes of Inquiry
Critical Race Theory is foregrounded in the research inquiry and guiding questions to challenge traditional Whitestream paradigms to (re)discover the oppressed experiences of Asian women in the conflict zone.

Scholarly Significance and Connection to Theme
Audience will be informed about the ways to utilize CWS by fulfilling the current gaps felt by BIPOC scholars with respect to its exclusive use by White scholars. In order to foster equitable education systems, it is necessary to recognize the role that Whiteness plays in forming societal, organizational, and hierarchical power relations, and how it consequently affects equity issues in education. It is therefore important for educators to engage in the dialogue by locating race and power within the education system.

Author

• Kako Koshino, Mejiro University