4120 - White Fragility, White Tears: Managing White Emotions in Critical Discussions of Race

Session Submission Type: Invited Session

Description

Rather than centering the voices and experiences of people of color, whites’ emotions often derail critical dialogue and silence people of color, thereby maintaining the status quo. Anger, guilt, frustration, fear, and literal tears are just some of the emotions whites express in critical discussions of race and racial inequality. We see this fragility exhibited by our students in our classrooms, as well as by our colleagues, both within the discipline and beyond.

This thematic session aims to explore how the emotions and behaviors of whites can diminish and dilute discussions of racial inequality, and how whites can be more effective allies in the struggle for racial justice.

Sub Unit

• Thematic Sessions

Session Organizers

• Ainsley Lambert-Swain, University of Cincinnati

• James Michael Thomas, University of Mississippi

Panelist

• Joyce M. Bell, University of Minnesota

Individual Presentations

• White Fragility and Diversity Initiatives in Faculty Hiring - Tanya Maria Golash-Boza, University of California-Merced

• White Guilt, White Apathy, White Denial: Exploring White Strategies for Saving Face - Amanda Evelyn Lewis, University of Illinois at Chicago; Margaret A. Hagerman, Mississippi State University

• Never Mud Wrestle with Pigs: White Fragility and the Deployment of Emotion as a Mechanism of White Domination - Wendy Leo Moore, Texas A&M University

• Epidermal Capital and Challenging Whiteness - Sarah Mayorga-Gallo, University of Massachusetts-Boston