Whiteness has never left the center

Abstract

Recentering whiteness is a misnomer –it seeks to address a tension that is real but locates it inaccurately and thus the critique becomes absurd. If we can’t find a moment when whiteness was ever notcentral to the social organization of the modern world, why would we be concerned about notions of “re-centering” what has never left the center? This paper mobilizes a Foucauldian and feminist approach to understanding white privilege and the problem of “re-centering” whiteness to call for additional studies of whiteness and white supremacy on the side of humanization. The author ultimately provides an alternative to critiques of “re-centering” that can offer new ways of understanding the risks and challenges of critical whiteness work in educational research.

Keywords:

• Whiteness studies
• antiracism
• race
• white privilege
• teacher education

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Zachary A. Casey

Dr. Zachary A. Casey is Associate Professor and Chair of Educational Studies at Rhodes College. His work focuses on critical whiteness studies, teacher education, and critical pedagogy. His first book, A Pedagogy of Anticapitalist Antiracism was awarded the 2018 Outstanding Book Award from the Society of Professors of Education.