"Kill 'Em With Kindness": Midwest Nice as an Instantiation of Whiteness

• In Event: Fairmont Roundtable Session Eight
  In Roundtable Session: The Impact of Teacher Identity on Individual and Student Development (Table 15)

Abstract

“Midwest Nice” is a phrase used to describe the nice, friendly, and courteous demeanor often associated with people who live or were raised in the Midwest region of the United States. Though Midwest Nice is often presented as a beneficial and benevolent practice with positive connotations, the implementation and experience of Midwest Nice practices can also be characterized as problematic, engendering unhealthy and even harmful behavior. This paper draws upon Deleuze and Guattari’s rhizome metaphor for smooth and striated space as a theoretical framework for critically examining practices of Midwest Nice as they have occurred in my own life. This paper will illuminate the ways in which Midwest Nice functions to thwart anti-racist (un)learning and action and ultimately to instantiate whiteness.

Author

• Emilie Homan, University of California - San Diego
  Presenting Author