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

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

Abstract

This conceptual paper aims to move beyond the continued misconception that only white people stand to benefit from engaging in whiteness studies. Using Critical Race Theory (CRT) as the primary framework, the author argues that educators of color in the academy can strengthen their antiracist agency by using whiteness studies as a tool to better understand white psychology. Instead of remaining in the vulnerable position educators of color are typically placed in when it comes to classroom discussions of race, we can employ a critical understanding of whiteness in order to analyze the racial micro-aggressions associated with white dissonance—which creates much unnecessary emotional turmoil in the antiracist classroom. It needs to be recognized that people of color have the most to gain intellectually and psychologically from the abolition of whiteness and thus should be leaders in the field of whiteness studies for people of color have always been “the nation’s keenest students of white consciousness and white behavior” (Roediger, 1998).

The evidence supporting my testimonio (Beverley, 2005) experiences as a working-class Latina teaching white students at a large university in the Southwest. As a female educator of color in what continues to be a white-dominated academic setting, my knowledge and experiences are frequently questioned by white students. This is especially true when I problematize whiteness during class discussions. The constant undermining of my knowledge creates feelings of vulnerability, which has led to my own defensive reactions whenever my racial knowledge was put to the test by white students. I realized that my approach to this problem was only subjecting myself to more psychological and emotional harm, and I decided this had to change.

Through whiteness studies, I learned that the most effective way to counter these challenges was to become more familiar with the white mind. Knowing why and how whiteness operates at micro and macro levels has allowed me to be better prepared to handle moments of white dissonance in my courses. These are moments where white students (and even some students of color) experience disaccord upon my attempt to engage them in discussions of race. Information that counters students’ distorted “white realities” tends to trigger reactions of defensiveness, guilt, denial, and aggression that are primarily aimed at me (Allen & Rossatto, 2009). At first I was impulsive and reacted to their reactions, but what I realized is that by understanding more of the “whys” behind their behaviors I could become more effective in predicting behavioral patterns and could engage students in more productive dialogues that could lead to an improved chance of transformation.

This paper’s significance is that it will describe how educators of color can utilize whiteness studies to reframe discussions and place the critique of whiteness at center stage (Leonardo, 2009). Lastly, in this paper I will further explore how educators of color can re-shift and redefine our position within academia by arming ourselves with strategic knowledge and responses that can be used during moments of white dissonance.

Author

• Virginia Necochea, University of New Mexico