Blog Post 2: How will we read Invisibility and White Privilege

As discussed in Ashcroft, Griffiths and Tiffin (1998), race is a complex social construct. Going back nearly 500 years, the idea of race was used to categorize human, leading to slavery, imperialism and colonialism, and for Whites to dominate others. Lensmire, McManimom, Tierney, Lee-Nichols, Casey, Lensmire and Davis (2013) response to MacIntosh (1988) discuss a few thought-provoking ideas. Where MacIntosh describes privileges given to her for being born White, comparing it to privileges given to those who are male. MacIntosh states the term “privilege” is actually misleading as the situations she describe illustrate systematic racism. Lensmire et al argue that MacIntosh, although significant to understanding white racism and its function in society, does not lead to action and can lead to misunderstanding students' resistance to the concept of white privilege.

Lensmire et al present two narratives to highlight their argument. I agree with the authors' first assertion that the piece does not lead to action, suggesting it is a non-racist piece rather than anti-racist. However, I do believe the article, through understanding and discussion, will lead to anti-racist actions. We live in a world where many still deny, or refuse to acknowledge, the existence of white privilege, so I believe the first step would be to realizing a problem exists.

This leads to Lensmire et al's second argument. Mary describes John who felt he had nothing to apologize for and did not see a problem with white privilege, feeling he was being blamed for “being White and male”. The authors question whether the inability to see MacIntosh's view make one racist? If one is white and poor, does the inability to see the advantages given to them make them racist? The authors do not think so. However, we live in a time where information is readily available to us. I would argue agree the inability to see white privilege does not make one racist, but makes one ignorant.

That being said, should John still be a teacher? What happens when he has a student of colour in his class? Would he treat the student differently than the White students when facing discipline? Would white privilege come up in different ways, ways he will not realize, but ways his students will?

References:

Ashcroft, B., Griffiths, G. & Tiffin, H. (1998). Key concepts in post-colonial studies. Psychology Press. New York, NY: Routledge

MacIntosh, P. (1988). Unpacking the invisible knapsack. Retrieved from http://www.cirtl.net/files/PartI_CreatingAwareness_WhitePrivilegeUnpackingtheInvisibleKnapsack.pdf

Lensmire, T.J., McManimon, S.K., Teirney, J.D., Lee-Nichols, M.E., Casey, Z.A., Lensmire, A. & Davis, B.M. (2013). McIntosh as synendoche: How teacher education's focus on white privilege undermines antiracism. Harvard Education Review, 83(3), 410-431

Blog Post 1: Why does reading for racial literacies matter?

Trier (2005) illustrates a common misconception of inner-city schools, one that is portrayed in various media outlets. By examining the opinions and beliefs pre-service teachers had prior to their student-teaching experience, deconstructing the discourses of cinematic representations of inner-city schools, and re-examining the views after the student-teaching experience, the project was able to expose the impact media has on creating representations that are not always true. Trier draws on the works of Stuart Hall's (2002) views of the 'other' and Roland Barthes' (1997) myth to explain how meanings are produced, in the project's case, to inner-city schools. Exposing the 'racialized' and 'deracialized' representations in popular media, Trier hopes for pre-service teachers to challenge their own prejudices and notions.

Although the project specifically focuses on cinematic portrayals of inner-city schools, television, music videos, news and so forth depict a distorted and grossly exaggerated view of the lived experiences at these schools. The differences between Whites and the Other are pushed into our minds at an early age – children's television shows with non-Whites having exaggerated accents, struggling to understand and fit into Western culture and society. Even in teenage television shows, non-Whites are rarely shown, and when they are, it is usually in stereotypical fashion. Although representations of inner-city schools are typically created for entertainment purpose, and Trier discusses the impacts on teachers, I believe the stereotypes portrayed affects students as well. Children watching these portrayals through an uncritical lens are told how students attending inner-city schools behave and perform academically. Children viewing this can either turn into the stereotype, or decide to go against the stereotype. Other than having students and teachers critically deconstruct these popular media portrayals, at this time, I do not think there is another way to combat the misrepresentation of inner-city schools.

Should pre-service teachers who do not accept a problem exists, and have negative views of inner-city schools, be allowed to teach? This question has long been on my mind, as I find teachers that have this belief go into classrooms with deficit views of students in inner-city schools. With such a view, can a teacher effectively teach all students to become active citizens in society?

Reference:

Trier, J. (2005). 'Sordid Fantasies': reading popular 'inner-city' school films as racialized texts with pre-service teachers. Race, Ethnicity and Education, 8(2), 171-189