Whiteness and Mathematics: Parallels in Perceived Neutrality

• In Event: 44.070 - Interrogating Whiteness in Mathematics Education

Abstract

Mathematics education masks many of the ways in which racism impacts policy, schools, and classrooms. There are a number of reasons for this, but here we to take on one perspective about how the perceived neutrality of whiteness and mathematics coalesce to make phenomena such as achievement “gaps” and disproportionate suspension rates among African American boys appear as an outcome of a neutral system. Whites are often attributed to having a neutral or unbiased perspective (Frankenberg, 1993). Likewise, mathematics is attributed to being a neutral or cultureless domain (Matthews, 2005). Therefore, the ideology of whiteness and the field of mathematics parallel each other in terms of preserving objectivity, sustaining privilege, and leaving racism implicit. In deeming both whiteness and mathematics as neutral, institutions and policies are also attributed to being neutral with respect to race. Thus, from the perspective of a teacher, the institution is not reproducing racism, but carrying out neutral policies within the cultureless domain of mathematics.
However, this perspective allows implicit racism to go unchecked. Implicit racism is due to exposure to and internalization of stereotypes, but generally accepted values of fairness inhibit their expression (Dovidio & Gaertner, 2008). These beliefs remain implicit due to proxies for race such as culture, family values, and ability. This is even more problematic given that whites, who would not discriminate explicitly, tend to discriminate against African Americans when bias can be attributed to proxies other than race (Dovidio & Gaertner, 2004).
Following this line of argument, with the perceived neutrality of institutions, misbehavior and academic underachievement among students of color appear to be due to the students and families themselves, not to the institutions constraining behavior and defining mathematical competence. This unfortunately can lead teachers to read behavior and ability as proxies for race and culture, rather than as a response to racist institutional framings. Through implicit racial bias, differential achievement and behavior from particular student groups are read as signifiers that students have less ability or cannot control themselves as opposed to being outcomes of low-quality instruction, poor teacher-student relationships, or white-imposed norms of behavior in schools (Author, resubmitted). And with whiteness and mathematics defined as neutral domains, there is no need to look for ideological or institutional explanations for the racializing of educational spaces.
Thus, neutrality serves to leave race implicit for mathematics teachers, and judging by the lack of work on whiteness, for mathematics education researchers as well (Author, 2013). Therefore, as a field, we are willing to see race as an explanatory variable, but not racism. In other words, differences between races can explain achievement “gaps”, but naming racism, undergirded by an ideology of whiteness, as an explanation of differential mathematics outcomes remains elusive.

Authors

• Dan Battey, Rutgers University

• Luis Antonio Leyva, Vanderbilt University