Beyond Black and White: How White, Male, College Students See Their Asian American Peers

Whiteness in Higher Education: The Invisible Missing Link in Diversity and Racial Analyses

“…Part of this invisibility and accompanying privilege means being able to ignore issues of race. When there are challenges lodged against Whiteness in higher education institutions, it can provoke a defensive reaction, even leading some to cry “reverse racism” (Cabrera, , ). Instead of challenging the normativity of Whiteness in higher education, institutional practices frequently reify Whiteness as property.…”

“…This colorblindness can have some strong, negative impacts on Students of Color. For example, Cabrera () finds that White men frame their Asian American peers as nonracial beings (i.e., not the targets of racism), and this gives license to express stereotypes about Asian Americans (e.g., being nerdy or bad drivers). Within this analysis, Cabrera () highlights a number of differences in expressed racial animus that exist across two institutions of higher education.…”

“…For example, Cabrera () finds that White men frame their Asian American peers as nonracial beings (i.e., not the targets of racism), and this gives license to express stereotypes about Asian Americans (e.g., being nerdy or bad drivers). Within this analysis, Cabrera () highlights a number of differences in expressed racial animus that exist across two institutions of higher education. In the university that has the higher concentration of Asian Americans and is more academically competitive, the participants held much stronger anti‐Asian American views: blaming them for campus racial segregation and expressing stronger amounts of racial prejudice against this group.…”

“…This leads to a situation of racial triangulation, or blaming Black and Brown educational shortcomings on the communities themselves by using the success of Asian Americans as a barometer (Kim, ). What is additionally troubling about these findings is that Cabrera () highlights how even racially progressive White men still articulate a number of racist views about Asian Americans, and this again, relates to Asian Americans not being viewed as “real minorities.”…”

“…Although there have been a number of explorations into White male college student racism (Cabrera, , , , , , ), the empirical explorations of White female college students’ is limited. Trepagnier () is one of the few to study this group.…”