White Feelings, Black and Brown Fatigue: The Emotional Weight of Mathematical Legitimacy

• In Event: When Numbers Feel White: Emotionality, Microaggressions, and Identity in Math Education

Abstract

Objectives
This paper theorizes white emotionality (Matias, 2016) as a racialized disciplinary structure that governs affective norms in math learning spaces. The objective is to understand how emotional reactions, such as discomfort, withdrawal, or the urge to assert control, become racialized microaggressions that undermine students of color and shape their mathematical identities. Speaking directly to the panel’s focus on affective whiteness, this paper grounds mathematics identity in the emotional and relational conditions of classrooms. In doing so, it contributes to dismantling the myth of mathematical neutrality by demonstrating how racial power is maintained not only structurally but emotionally, within everyday teacher-student interactions.

Theoretical Perspective(s)
Grounded in whiteness studies and affect theory, this paper centers Cheryl Matias’ (2016) framework of white emotionality as a racialized structure that resists equity under the guise of professionalism, order, or neutrality. We extend this through Matias & Zembylas (2014) and Willey & Magee (2019) to examine math classrooms as affectively charged spaces. The paper also draws from critical mathematics education (Gutierrez, 2013; Martin, 2012) and research on stereotype threat and identity formation (Arbuthnot, 2009; McGee & Martin, 2011; Wang et al., 2024) to explore the consequences of affective discipline on students of color.

A visual maps affective whiteness, harm, and reimagined math pedagogy pathways.

Methods/Modes of Inquiry
This theoretical conceptual paper uses critical race hermeneutics (Allen, 2021) to weave together a critical literature analysis and classroom based narrative vignettes to interrogate how white emotionality charged microaggressions, such as overreacting, silencing questions, or interpreting student confusion as disrespect, and analyzes their cumulative effect on students’ sense of belonging, particularly Students of Color, Black, and multilingual learners.

Conclusion
In the pursuit of socially just mathematics learning environments, whiteness emotionality (Matias, 2016) cannot be ignored. Its presence enforces racialized emotional norms that discipline Black students and students of color, shaping their math identity in limiting and harmful ways. Disrupting this requires critical research that interrogates how emotional responses are racialized in classroom contexts. Only then can we make space for more affirming, equitable experiences for students of color. These insights call for math teacher preparation that addresses not only curriculum equity but also the emotional norms that shape classroom belonging.

Scholarly Significance
This paper advances the field by centering emotionality– not as a byproduct of inequity but as a primary mechanism through which whiteness operates in mathematics education. It challenges reformist approaches that sideline affect and offers an alternative framework rooted in affective justice and identity affirmation. Drawing on McGee’s (2015) framework, math identity is reframed not as a fixed trait but as a site of emotional labor and survival for students navigating racialized academic spaces.

Connection to Theme
Aligning with AERA’s 2026 theme, “Unforgetting Histories and Imagining Futures”, this paper engages in the “unforgetting” of how whiteness operates as emotional discipline– that is, how it operates affectively in mathematics classrooms through teachers’ emotional responses to perceived disruption, resistance, or differences. It also imagines a future where whiteness and emotionality are no longer used to misinterpret students' behaviors.

Authors

• Jennifer A. Chabriel-Amara, University of San Diego

• Nallely Gecik, University of San Diego

• Cheryl E. Matias, University of San Diego