Immersed in the struggle: confronting whiteness in a sea of whiteness

Abstract

This paper explores white pre-service teachers’ understandings of racism by focusing on their understanding of one moment in a field-based social studies methods course. Using interview and journal data from two pre-service teachers, this qualitative study brings a nuanced perspective to the response of these two pre-service teachers to the racist statements of a small group of middle school students. Analysis of the data revealed that the participants’ white racial knowledge, based on their own lived experience, was complex and contradictory and revealed a struggle to articulate their understanding of racism. The author concludes by considering how teacher education can help PSTs in understanding white racial knowledge.

Keywords:

• white racial knowledge
• whiteness
• teacher education
• social studies

Notes

1. All names are pseudonyms.

2. Name of town changed to maintain anonymity.