The “New” Anti-Antiracism: Is It More Than Just White Emotionality?

• In Event: (Re)New(Ed) and Intersectional Discourses of (Anti-)Racism, Politics, and Identity

Abstract

This study posits that a white “emotional crisis” explanation for anti-antiracism (against antiracism) leaves much undertheorized. The main concern of this paper involves showing how the intentionality of acts of anti-antiracism by students (pre-service teachers) resemble actions associated with a political countermovement. Accordingly, this study asks: what do manifestations of anti-antiracism by students aim to achieve and how does anti-antiracism in teacher education show patterns associated with a countermovement or political action rather than merely expressions of emotion or individual angst? This study uses autoethnography as an approach for opening a space for theorizing the manifestations of anti-antiracism that typically remain unseen by those outside the academy.

Author

• Ramon Vasquez, University of Minnesota