scholarly journals Unpacking Our White Privilege: Reflecting on Our Teaching Practice

in education ◽  
2014 ◽  
Vol 19 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Dawn Burleigh ◽  
Sarah Burm
Keyword(s):  
Preservice Teachers ◽  
Narrative Inquiry ◽  
White Privilege ◽  
Teaching Practice ◽  
Indigenous Education ◽  
Ways Of Knowing ◽  
Indigenous Community ◽  
Cultural Discourses ◽  
White Studies ◽  
Critical White Studies

MacIntyre (1981) asks, “Of what stories do I find myself a part?” (p. 201). As teachers working in an Indigenous context, we found ourselves telling stories that had moments of tension between our Eurocentric ways of knowing and the Indigenous context in which we taught. This intersection has prompted our research. We ask two questions in this inquiry: What can our experiences as non-Indigenous teachers in an Indigenous community offer us in our understanding as new researchers in the field of Indigenous education, and how can our teaching narratives further preservice teachers’ understandings of teaching Indigenous students? Through critical White studies, our research examines White privilege, power, and position and begins to unearth the experiences of teaching as non-Indigenous educators in a remote Indigenous community in Ontario, Canada. Narrative inquiry and autoethnographic methods connect our stories to greater social, political, and cultural discourses. These stories serve to disrupt the dominant discourse that divides and others the complexities of Indigenous education. This work will interrogate and unpack our White privilege and power and will serve to assist preservice teachers in their understanding of teaching within Indigenous contexts.Keywords: Indigenous education; narrative inquiry; critical White studies; teacher education

Editor's Notes

2006 ◽  
Vol 29 (2) ◽  
pp. i-i
Keyword(s):  
San Francisco ◽  
White Supremacy ◽  
Ethnic Studies ◽  
The United States ◽  
Annual Conference ◽  
Critical Race Studies ◽  
Valuable Contribution ◽  
White Studies ◽  
Critical White Studies ◽  
Conference Papers

The idea for this issue was conceived shortly after the conclusion of the panel, “Battling White Supremacy with Ethnic Studies” at the 34th annual conference of the National Association for Ethnic Studies in San Francisco. A suggestion was made to publish a special issue on a subject exploring “Critical Race Studies” or “Critical White Studies.” As it turned out three of the original panel presenters were interested in participating in the initiative; hardly enough for a publication. The articles by Reiland Rabaka, R. Sophie Statzel and lsabell Cserno are based on their conference papers. As it further turned out, I had other papers in the review process which were thematically consistent with the panel papers. I believe the articles comprising this issue make a valuable contribution to the ongoing discourse about the continuing significance of “race” in the United States and other societies.

scholarly journals Abolishing Whiteness

2021 ◽  
Vol 21 (2/3) ◽  
pp. 588-615
Author(s):  
Michele D. Hanna ◽  
Heather Arnold-Renicker ◽  
Barbara Garza
Keyword(s):  
Critical Race Theory ◽  
White Supremacy ◽  
People Of Color ◽  
Learning Needs ◽  
Theoretical Frameworks ◽  
White Studies ◽  
Critical White Studies ◽  
The Social ◽  
History Of ◽  
Construction Of Whiteness

The power, privilege, and oppression paradigm that most schools of social work currently espouse to are often taught through an experiential approach to whiteness, privileging the majority of white students with the opportunity to explore their white identity at the expense of the learning of the Black/Brown, Indigenous, People of Color (BIPOC) students in the classroom. Many BIPOC students experience these courses as a hostile environment, finding themselves and their racial group identified in contrast to whiteness – oppressed, marginalized, silenced, and powerless. This paper presents an innovative course outline using Critical Race Theory and Critical White Studies as theoretical frameworks to decenter whiteness and attend to the learning needs of BIPOC students. Using these two theoretical frameworks, students will learn the history of the racial hierarchy of humans; the social construction of whiteness, the evolution of anti-black racism and the extension to other people of color; and the relationship between white supremacy and racism.

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