We are not social justice equals: the need for white scholars to understand their whiteness

Abstract

This article presents White social justice archetypes identified applying extended case study methods over 6 years at two Predominantly White Institutions (PWIs) in the USA. Primary data collection was conducted during public departmental and program meetings, supported by meeting minutes and the documentation of counter White-hegemonic narratives through critical incident journaling. White scholar social justice archetypes were interpreted applying Critical Whiteness Studies (CWS) and Critical Race Theory (CRT) lens to conversational and metaphor analysis using Witnessing–Interpreting–Knowing protocols. This research is in response to a growing number of White scholars, entering the field of CRT, identifying as ‘Crit’ social justice scholars without using CRT as a lens to interrogate their role in perpetuating White Supremacist ‘racial ideology in the composition and culture of American Institutions [i.e. Higher Education]’) .

KEYWORDS:

• Critical Whiteness studies
• White supremacy
• social justice
• teacher education
• higher education

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Notes

Notes

2 Heidi Beirich has discussed this topic extensively in her role as Intelligence Project Director at the Southern Poverty Law Center. See: http://www.latimes.com/nation/la-na-pol-white-nationalists-thinktank-20161119-story.html

3 Also see positive racial socialization, Sanders, 1997; in-group pride, Aboud and Doyle, 199

4 Hooks, B Teaching to Trangress (109) as quoted in Political Literacy (Earick, 1997).

5 IBID. (103).

6 CIJ note: SOC: Scholar of Color; WS: White Scholar

7 See “Votes for woman: A symposium by leading thinkers in the colored America”. The Crisis (1915). 10(4) archived in the Modernist Journals Project.

8 Ally is used as a verb, which denotes action towards mutual benefits and power. Use of ally as a noun often supports helping pedagogies rather than empowerment.