University of Utah Whiteness Theory and Education Spring 2011
Office: 308C MBH Audrey Thompson mailbox in 307 MBH
Office Hours: ECS 6624-001 & 7624-001 voicemail: 587-7803
W 2:00-4:00 & Th 1:00-4:30
and by appt. 587-7814		 meets TH 4:35-7:05 p.m. in 235 OSH Audrey.Thompson@utah.edu

http://www.pauahtun.org/audrey.html

Overview

Whiteness theory is intended to make visible forms of racial dominance and privilege that many whites take for granted, along with cultural and political assumptions and practices that, while they may be treated as normal and universal, are normed to white expectations. In some respects consistent with multicultural theories, whiteness theory nevertheless is distinct from mainstream multiculturalism. Multicultural theory usually seeks to foster an appreciation of cultures other than the dominant culture; in its more radical forms, multiculturalism also involves problematizing the assumptions of the dominant culture. But because mainstream multicultural approaches are concerned primarily with developing authentic understandings of non-dominant cultures, they usually do not concentrate on how white power operates to foster and maintain white privilege and dominance. Whiteness theory focuses specifically on whiteness as a political and cultural position that benefits (albeit in different ways) those designated as white or honorary white — at a cost to people of color as a group.

Because white cultural norms are systematically enforced in the schools (usually without any recognition that they are white-referenced norms), whiteness theory is particularly important for educators. A teacher (whether white, brown, or black) who can deconstruct his or her own investments in whiteness is better positioned to see why prevailing pedagogical and curricular patterns might not work to alter inequitable relations. Even teachers who are fully committed to multiculturalism and anti-racism may fail to see how their own investments in "universal" scholarly values may get in the way of their good intentions vis-a-vis students of color.

Among the topics with which the course will be concerned are the various analyses undertaken by whiteness theory, whiteness as epistemology, whiteness in relation to pedagogy, whiteness in relation to texts and the curriculum, and the politics of various approaches to whiteness education (such as "allies" and "race traitor" approaches).

Structure

The class will meet once a week, each time discussing the readings on the syllabus. To participate actively in class, it is essential that you read carefully, prepare questions, and jot down any issues you wish to discuss. I will make short presentations to provide necessary background information. My primary role, however, will be to ask questions, clarify points raised in our discussions, and summarize the important issues that we discuss.

Texts

The articles will be on electronic reserve at the Marriott Library or, in a few cases, will be made available as handouts or as links on the electronic version of the syllabus.

Course Requirements

Students are expected to attend class regularly and to give their full attention to class (please turn off cell phones and other devices not needed for class). Listen carefully to one another and try to help create a context in which shared inquiry can flourish.

In addition to completing the assigned readings and participating thoughtfully in in-class activities and discussions, course requirements include one short (5-page) paper, one very short paper (3 pages), and a longer final paper (12-15 pages). There is no final exam.


Participation, attendance, and in-class projects: 20% of grade
5-page paper: 25% of grade
3-page paper:  20% of grade
Final paper:  35% of grade

 

Both short papers and the final paper must be vitally informed by the course discussions, lectures, class activities, and readings. You should cite any references that inform your analysis; wherever possible, give specific page numbers, even if you are not citing the text directly. Other than that, it does not matter to me which citation system you use or whether you make up your own, as long as I can follow your system and can locate the passages you (should) have indicated. If you plan to write academic papers or a master's or doctoral thesis, I encourage you to familiarize yourself with whatever citation format is most common in your field (e.g., MLA, Chicago, APA), as it is best to have made formal citation habits more or less automatic before you get to the thesis stage. However, this is up to you. For my purposes, it is enough that you indicate the relevant author and page numbers of any work on the syllabus (e.g., hooks, 35-36). For any outside readings upon which your paper draws, however, please do provide full bibliographic information. (You are free to outside readings in your papers, but the papers should focus primarily and distinctively on class readings.)

The purpose of the 5-page paper assignment is to give you practice in using the tools of whiteness theorizing in a specific analysis. Accordingly, this paper asks you to provide an analysis of 1) a classroom situation in which you were either the teacher or the student, 2) a curriculum, 3) an article, textbook or chapter from a textbook, 4) policy, or 5) a popular culture text (movie, song, billboard ad, etc.) using one or more forms of whiteness theorizing. In developing your analysis, be sure to draw on at least three of the readings in detail. The readings you choose should all be from the first part of the course.

The 3-page paper asks you to use discursive forms of analysis to identify patterns of whiteness in a children's picture book, focusing on both the words and the images. (This paper is connected to one of the in-class projects.)

The final paper asks you to evaluate whiteness theories as tools for understanding racial injustice and inequality, either in relation to one another (e.g., discursive compared with institutional theories) or in relation to some related theory (such as a particular multicultural or postcolonial theory). You will need to focus on some aspect of whiteness theorizing in depth (e.g., the limits and possibilities of whiteness conversion narratives, how whiteness pedagogy intersects with or jeopardizes multicultural pedagogy, or whether the "abolition of whiteness" is possible). The final paper must be centrally informed by the course readings, lectures, and discussions, and at least three of the readings must be from the final part of the course. If you use a reading from the first part of the course, it should not be one of the readings discussed in your first paper.

Clarifications, Cautions, and Ground Rules

This course will require all of us to think about how we are mobilizing and reproducing particular forms of dominance and privilege, including race, class, culture, and sexuality, among others. I also want this to be a course in which students engage one another as co-learners and co-educators. This expectation sets the course apart from a class in which the emphasis is on individual, consumer-type learning. The emphasis will be on the shared project of denormalizing forms of whiteness that exact a cost from people of color. Because we will have different understandings of and investments in that project, I will be setting some ground rules and also revisiting our shared expectations from time to time. At regular intervals, we will also talk about the classroom dynamics and how these might shift to address particular concerns.

My most general expectations are that 1) all of us will have read the texts closely and refer our discussion to the texts; 2) students should try to learn from others in the classroom, and, as far as possible, listen to one another as educators and co-learners; 3) the learning of white students must not be privileged over the learning of students of color; 4) students should frame their contributions to both large and small group work in such a way that they are not talking at people, lecturing them, or just holding forth; 5) we need to recognize that due to power asymmetries, the interactive roles will not always be the same for all students; 6) we need to pay attention to how their own and others' arguments and analyses are organized by master narratives or particular cultural codes and discourses; and 7) it is okay to get angry; it is not okay to be condescending. Don't lose sight of the educational project in which all of us share.

For white teachers, it is important to see when and how white privilege matters and what can be done about it. This course will ask you to look at exactly how whiteness affects various relations and situations. Whiteness has an enormous organizing effect on other forms of power and privilege. Accordingly, we will be talking about how race, ethnicity, class, gender, sexuality, and other positionalities interlock to create, maintain, and support white privilege. You will be asked to look at the nuances of relationships, at various privileging mechanisms, and at specific racialized patterns; it will not be enough to talk about privilege either in sweeping, absolute terms, or in terms that bracket whiteness as something. Thus, we will not be ranking the various kinds of privilege and oppression, but will be talking about race privilege in context. (If you were homeless, for instance, it might not be not much consolation to be a member of the elite category of straight white males — yet your whiteness might nevertheless be relevant to your chances of avoiding arrest, for example.)

Because whiteness is a social construction, whiteness and white privilege are not issues only for whites. Light-skin color privileges, English-language privileges, class, and "honorary white" privileges may be extended (usually only provisionally) to people of color as well, in particular cases. Moreover, questions of privilege connected to symbolic whiteness become particularly significant in academia, where objectivity, neutrality, discipline, and other values may be articulated to whiteness. And of course the construction of race is always a co-construction with gender, class, sexuality, nationality, religion, age, and other dimensions of identity, power, belonging, and deserving.

Whiteness theory addresses whiteness not as a question of racial guilt or innocence based on skin color but as a system of privileges that is maintained discursively, institutionally, and materially (as well as in other ways). What this means is that all of us are likely to participate in maintaining the codes of whiteness in various ways. Even challenging others to be anti-racist, depending on how it's done, can be a way of "proving" our own superiority and thus suggesting (for example) that we (often those of us who are progressive whites) are "good whites." Be prepared to rethink some of the values and practices you think of as anti-racist.

For many white teachers, focusing on whiteness as privilege and dominance is new and it is difficult to avoid being defensive. If you are new to the idea of white privilege, try to monitor your defensiveness about whiteness and ask what it might mean; on the other hand, if you are comfortable with talk about race privilege, remember how complex a process the development of that awareness is and how problematic your or anyone's current understanding is likely to be. Complacency is often more of a dead-end than defensiveness is. Keep in mind that no one in academia, regardless of color, escapes whiteness altogether. Many of the values and privileges of whiteness are built into academic discourse. If you have made it this far, you are participating in some of the privileges of whiteness, even if you are a person of color.

I will be asking everyone to engage with others as educators and co-learners. If you lead with your ego, it's hard to listen. Try to lead with an ear for possibilities you might not have considered without the group. If you have a different understanding of particular materials than do others in the class, make that understanding available to others without lecturing them. If you feel threatened by particular people in the class, think about how to address them so as to get past the impasse: how can you teach them how you would like to learn from them? Thinking as educators means attending to the conditions of learning as well as to whether everyone is learning. This doesn't mean that everyone should always be "nice," but it does mean showing respect.

Regardless of your situation, it is likely that you will at times find yourself uncomfortable with the arguments and analyses you encounter in a course such as this, and in some cases you may find the theories intimidating. Not only are such experiences unavoidable but they are desirable insofar as they are part of unsettling what we think we know about ourselves and others. It takes time and study to move beyond anxious discomfort. While the course will not attempt to eliminate discomfort, it will try to make your discomfort interesting.

Schedule of Class Topics and Reading

Th. 13 Jan.     Introduction

Th. 20 Jan.     Whiteness in Historical Perspective

Readings:

Th. 27 Jan.     Material and Structural Whiteness Theorizing

Readings:

Th. 3 Feb.     Material and Embodied Whiteness Theorizing

Readings:

Th. 10 Feb.   White Privilege

Readings:

Th. 17 Feb.     Discursive Whiteness Theorizing

Readings:

Deconstructing whiteness in film: Tarzan and The Jungle Book

Th. 24 Feb.     Institutional Whiteness

Readings:

Electronic handout summarizing whiteness theory frameworks: http://www.pauahtun.org/Whiteness-Summary-1.html

Th. 3 March     Time, Space, and Race

Readings:

In-class project:  Bring to class one (or more) of the following: 1) a yearbook from high school (it doesn't have to be your own), 2) an elementary or high school textbook with photographs, drawings, and/or paintings (must be fairly current), 3) an illustrated magazine (any date) that carries a feature on a particular group/place (such as National Geographic or an old Life magazine)

Short paper due on Monday 7 March by noon

Th. 10 March     Struggling with White Identity

Readings:

Th. 17 March     Reconstructing White Identity

Readings:

Th. 24 March     SPRING BREAK No class meeting

Th. 31 March     Teachers and Whiteness

Readings:

In-class project:  Bring to class an illustrated children's book (fiction or biography) that includes people of different races or ethnicities but has a white person as at least one of its protagonists. The book doesn't necessarily have to have race as its overt topic. (The city libraries have good children's book selections, or you may want to check the Marriott Library or your school library.) We will be deconstructing whiteness in children's books during part of class, working in groups of two or three.

Due by the beginning of class: 3-page paper analyzing the book you have chosen for class

Th. 7 April     AERA No class meeting

Th. 14 April     Whiteness and Pedagogy

Readings:

Handout: Whiteness theory teaching tips

Th. 21 April     Preparing Teachers

Readings:

Tues. 3 May     Final paper due by 5:00 p.m.

Please bring the paper to the main office, 307 MBH, or to my office, 308C MBH.