Swimming in and through whiteness: Antiracism in social studies teacher education

ABSTRACT

In this study, the author examined how five white preservice teachers in a secondary social studies teacher education program embodied, wrestled with, and resisted whiteness. Drawing on literature from whiteness studies and antiracism, this study utilized the analogy of a swimming pool to discuss how participants constructed their identities in relation to whiteness and antiracism. Findings indicated that participants demonstrated a fluidity of positioning as they invested, reinvested, and divested from whiteness. Despite prolonged attention to antiracism, participants struggled to disrupt whiteness and white supremacy throughout the duration of the study, which was demonstrative of the complex, interlocking relationship between whiteness and social studies education. Implications for antiracist social studies teacher education are also discussed.

KEYWORDS:

• Antiracism
• identity
• social studies
• teacher education
• whiteness

Acknowledgments

Gratitude is extended to Dr. Sarah Shear, Ms. Sarah Nielsen, and Ms. Marin Hawkman for their support during the publication process. Additionally, I immensely appreciate the support of BIPOC scholars who provided feedback on the design of the course syllabus used in this project.

Notes

1. Although American Psychological Association (2010) guidelines recommend the capitalization of racial identities (White/Black), here I borrowed from Matias et al. (2014) and chose not to capitalize white, in any form, unless appearing within a citation or at the beginning of a sentence as an attempt to challenge the supremacy of whiteness within this article.