A witness of whiteness: An autoethnographic examination of a white teacher's own inherent prejudice

Abstract

White pre-service and practising teachers in America have been viewed too narrowly in multicultural education research and practice. Multicultural research and multicultural curricula position whites as colour-blind and generally ignorant of any conflicting differences between whites and non-whites. However, this perspective ignores those whites who may have preconceived notions of the differences between themselves and non-whites. This autoethnography describes my own ingrained notions as a white youth in rural America. I explore how unchallenged bigoted ideas can remain hidden, only to re-emerge during the daily interactions of school. My story demonstrates the pervasive nature of white culture when learned at a young age. I provide a discussion of how teacher educators and trainers can approach multicultural education programmes. My multicultural training had only presented me with information about white racial dominance, while my bigoted ideas remained hidden in my consciousness. I needed to have these ideas unearthed and challenged. Whites need to be viewed as a diverse group with diverse needs, including dealing with racial prejudice. Failing to address pre-existing bigoted conceptualisations about diversity could hinder the development of a social justice mentality, which can hinder a teacher's effectiveness when working in a multicultural classroom.

Keywords:

• Whiteness
• autoethnography
• multicultural education
• critical theory