“Something Doesn’t Feel White”: Racial Affect, White Dissonance, and the Possibility for Challenging Whiteness in Education

Session Submission Type: Symposium

Abstract

Whiteness Studies houses a substantial body of knowledge. Whiteness formation has been historically investigated (Roediger, 2005; Steinberg, 2001), interrogated in education and society (Howard, 1999; Lipstiz, 1998), and critically examined in research methodologies (Schick, 2010; Zuberi & Bonilla Silva, 2008). However, the conference theme, “non satis scire,” is befitting precisely because knowing Whiteness is insufficient to produce the agents of change needed for promoting racial equity. In an effort to translate knowledge into effective antiracist education, this praxis-oriented panel considers the problems posed by White students’ responses to a critique of Whiteness. Specifically, this session emphasizes critical dimensions of White discomfort and emotionality, or “White racial dissonance,” that block students’ willingness to reflect upon the racial self and society.

Sub Unit

• SIG-Critical Examination of Race, Ethnicity, Class, and Gender in Education

Chair

• Zeus Leonardo, University of California - Berkeley

Papers

• Overcoming Vulnerability in the Face of Whiteness: How a Critical Understanding of White Psychology Can Strengthen the Resolve of Educators of Color in the Academy - Virginia Necochea, University of New Mexico

• Racial Arrested Development: Campus Ecology, White Entitlement, and Social Comfort in Higher Education - Nolan L. Cabrera, The University of Arizona; Jeremy D. Franklin, University of Utah; Jesse S. Watson, University of Southern California

• Getting Slammed: White Depictions of Interracial Dialogues as Arenas of Violence - Robin DiAngelo, Westfield State University

• Loving Whiteness to Death: A Critical Examination of White Sadomasochistic Emotionality - Cheryl E. Matias, University of Colorado - Denver; Ricky Lee Allen, University of New Mexico

Discussant

• David Gillborn, The University of Birmingham