Rearticulating Whiteness: A Precursor to Difficult Dialogues on Race

This article reviews findings from a related study of 15 White racial justice allies, which highlighted the importance of re-articulating a sense of Whiteness. The author explores how the rearticulated sense of Whiteness demonstrated by these students may assist others to mitigate some of the defense mechanism discussed in the Watt (2007) Privileged Identity Exploration Model. Discussions, courses, and workshops on race and racism are ubiquitous in college settings. Racial identity has been thrust into the forefront on many college campuses (Giroux, 1997). Positive outcomes associated with these interventions require that students critically examine their race. Unfortunately, there have been few attempts to provide a language within which White youth can articulate their Whiteness without reference to their the common experience of racism and oppression, which makes it difficult for White students to view themselves as both White and antiracist at the same time (Eichstedt, 2001; Giroux). White college students therefore are increasingly aware of race, but lack the language to make sense of it or to engage in the types of difficult dialogues that are the focus of this special issue. The purpose of this article is to examine how several White racial justice allies articulated their Whiteness, and explore how this understanding of Whiteness may assist educators in engaging White students in difficult dialogues. The term "Whiteness" represents an understanding of what it means to be White in contemporary society. Whiteness includes an articulation of "how their own identities have been shaped within a broader racist culture" (Giroux, 1997, p. 294) and assumes that Whites are privileged in this society based on their racial features. Findings from a related study (Reason, 2005) indicated that the linear, developmental understanding of Whiteness-as purported by some popular theories (e.g., Helms, 1995)-does not relate to students' sense of Whiteness. Rather, students in the study presented a discursive and dynamic understanding of Whiteness that is more in keeping with Whiteness as understood by critical race theorists (e.g., Giroux, 1997). Critical Race Theory and Whiteness: A Theoretical Framework In response to concerns over stage-like and essentialist understandings of White racial identity development (WRI), critical race theorists have assumed a more discursive framework to conceptualize Whiteness. WRI development, from a critical race perspective, is no longer a straight path toward a final, idealized endpoint; rather critical race theorists call for a rearticulation of Whiteness that incorporates a constant internal battle to balance negative aspects of Whiteness (power and privilege) with some positive constructions of Whiteness (Eichstedt, 2001). Without rearticulating Whiteness, Whites are left to define themselves negatively (racist), by what they are against (anti-tzcist), or by what they are not (non-racial) (Thompson, 1996). According to Thompson (1996), Whites must reject the essentialist assumption that there is one way to be a "good" White, embracing instead an understanding of Whiteness influenced by other identities such as class, sexuality, gender, and age. By incorporating multiple identities, Whites begin to recognize situations where they may be "outsiders" based on factors such as sexuality or gender, while still recognizing their insider status based on race. This sense of Whiteness is likely to be nuanced, complicated, and dynamic because it becomes informed by the multiple other identities an individual possesses (Giroux, 1997). The understanding of Whiteness described above is grounded in the belief that race is a social construction which has no reality outside of the socio-historical context in which we live (Spickard, 1992). Accepting race as a social and political construction, however, must not imply that race does not exist. Racial categorization brings with it social, political, and economic consequences that are quite real. …