Paradoxes of white moral experience

Kwon, Jong Bum

doi:10.1111/amet.12900

Cited by 12 publications

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Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Doing would serve to distract us from the discomfort of reflecting on the harm caused by our current structures and practices (Opara, 2021). Moreover, it would perhaps assuage our guilt and allow us to regain our view of ourselves as morally 'good' (Kwon, 2020;Yancy, 2015) As academics we have a responsibility to deliver an inclusive and decolonised curriculum, but decolonisation needs to be seen as a process of unlearning and relearning rather than a target to be achieved (Sayed et al, 2017). To truly disrupt the colonial ways of generating knowledge, we need to listen with humility to our colleagues and students of colour and work collaboratively with them to create a new pedagogy.…”

Section: White Academics and Decolonisationmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Decoloniality and healthcare higher education: Critical conversations

Pillay,

Kathard,

Hansjee

et al. 2023

Intl J Lang & Comm Disor

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BackgroundWe explore the theoretical and methodological aspects of decolonising speech and language therapy (SLT) higher education in the United Kingdom. We begin by providing the background of the Rhodes Must Fall decolonisation movement and the engagement of South African SLTs in the decoloniality agenda. We then discuss the evolution of decoloniality in SLT, highlighting its focus on reimagining the relationships between participants, students, patients and the broader world.ObjectiveThe primary objective of this discussion is to fill a gap in professional literature regarding decoloniality in SLT education. While there is limited research in professional journals, social media platforms have witnessed discussions on decolonisation in SLT. This discussion aims to critically examine issues such as institutional racism, lack of belonging, inequitable services and limited diversity that currently affect the SLT profession, not just in the United Kingdom but globally.MethodsThe methods employed in this research involve the engagement of SLT academics in Critical conversations on decolonisation. These conversations draw on reflexivity and reflexive interpretation, allowing for a deeper understanding of the relationship between truth, reality, and the participants in SLT practice and education. The nature of these critical conversations is characterised by their chaotic, unscripted and fluid nature, which encourages the open discussion of sensitive topics related to race, gender, class and sexuality.Discussion pointsWe present our reflections as academics who participated in the critical conversations. We explore the discomfort experienced by an academic when engaging with decolonisation, acknowledging white privilege, and the need to address fear and an imposter syndrome. The second reflection focuses on the experiences of white academics in grappling with their complicity in a system that perpetuates racism and inequality. It highlights the need for self‐reflection, acknowledging white privilege and working collaboratively with colleagues and students toward constructing a decolonised curriculum.Finally, we emphasise that while action is crucial, this should not undermine the potential of dialogue to change attitudes and pave the way for practical implementation. The paper concludes by emphasising the importance of combining dialogue with action and the need for a nuanced understanding of the complexities involved in decolonising SLT education.ConclusionOverall, this paper provides a comprehensive overview of the background, objectives, methods and key reflections related to the decolonisation of SLT higher education in the United Kingdom. It highlights the challenges, discomfort and responsibilities faced by academics in addressing decoloniality and emphasizes the importance of ongoing critical conversations and collective action in effecting meaningful change.WHAT THIS PAPER ADDSWhat is already known on this subject Prior to this paper, it was known that the decolonial turn in speech and language therapy (SLT) was a recent focus, building on a history of professional transformation in South Africa. However, there was limited literature on decoloniality in professional journals, with most discussions happening on social media platforms. This paper aims to contribute to the literature and provide a critical conversation on decolonising SLT education, via the United Kingdom.What this paper adds to existing knowledge This paper adds a critical conversation on decolonising SLT higher education. It explores theoretical and methodological aspects of decoloniality in the profession, addressing issues such as institutional racism, lack of sense of belonging, inequitable services and limited diversity. The paper highlights the discomfort experienced by academics in engaging with decolonisation and emphasizes the importance of reflection, collaboration and open dialogue for meaningful change. Notably we foreground deimperialisation (vs. decolonisation) as necessary for academics oriented in/with the Global North so that both processes enable each other. Deimperialisation is work that focuses the undoing of privilege exercised by academics in/with the Global North not only for localising their research and education agenda but checking their rite of passage into the lives of those in the Majority World.What are the potential or actual clinical implications of this work? The paper highlights the need for SLT practitioners and educators to critically examine their practices and curricula to ensure they are inclusive, decolonised and responsive to the diverse needs of communities. The discussions emphasise the importance of addressing institutional racism and promoting a sense of belonging for research participants, SLT students and patients. This paper offers insights and recommendations that can inform the development of more equitable and culturally responsive SLT services and education programmes.

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Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: White Academics and Decolonisationmentioning

confidence: 99%

Decoloniality and healthcare higher education: Critical conversations

Pillay,

Kathard,

Hansjee

et al. 2023

Intl J Lang & Comm Disor

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“…77Contrast this with the rather nervous talk that Kwon (2020) observes among white women participating in “racial awareness” programs in the wake of the Ferguson uprising. Noting the readiness with which these women proffer “troubled confessions of moral anxiety,” Kwon suggests that their disclosures should be read as acts of self‐defense (184, 190).…”

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confidence: 99%

“I know I shouldn't say this, but…”

Ahmann

2023

American Anthropologist

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You don't just walk around on Curtis Avenue (Figure 1). It's a one-way road for tanker trucks that drive too fast and kick up dust as they depart this jilted place. The dust: an impossible amalgamation of things held in suspension. 1 Certainly acrolein, which gives the avenue the scent of burning fat. Formaldehyde and benzene. Probably lead. Then there are all the festering resentments that stick to the side of the road until something heavy throws them up into the haze. Thirty, forty years ago, Curtis Avenue was a bustling thoroughfare in South Baltimore-Maryland's petrochemical capital. That was back when the red dust signaled money and there were fourteen different bars to spend it in. Today, money seeps out; that's the one way traffic goes. Today, you don't just walk around on Curtis Avenue without finding yourself in the dust kicked up by someone else's good life.So I was curious when Betty took me there one sticky-hot September day. "This is where the old heads go," Betty whispered from behind the smoke of her third "last" cigarette. Then she chucked it on the avenue, still burning, and ambled into Shirley's Sunnyside Café.Betty was a sixty-something-year-old white woman who scorned most people but who liked me well enough. Perhaps because I'd been her niece's teacher before I left for graduate school, which marked me as familiar where outsiders were not easily embraced. Perhaps because I was a "harmlesslooking" thing: a reference to my size, I'm sure, but also to my gender, to my whiteness, and to my presumed oblivion about the world outside the

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“…Much of Brianna's understanding of Pākehā paralysis, 'good' pedagogies, and the 'right' thing to do in the classroom was based on an individualised understanding of colonialism, which unintentionally on her part resulted in the reification of whiteness in her classroom and in herself. Jong BumKwon (2020) observed a similar phenomenon among a group of White women in the wake of the 2014 Ferguson protests. These White women held meetings to address their privilege and educate themselves in order to be 'good' again.However, since their understandings of privilege and racism were based on individualised notions influenced by whiteness, their attempts to educate themselves became circles of self-confession, centering their experiences and never going beyond the level of the individual(Kwon 2020).The discomfort expressed by my teacher participants, with violence, difficult or emotional discussions, negative stories about colonisation, and unfamiliar historical perspectives, often stemmed from a desire to avoid doing or saying the 'wrong' thing.…”

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confidence: 75%

Being 'Good' in the Classroom: Whiteness and Moral Liminality in the 2023 Aotearoa New Zealand Histories Curriculum

Griggs

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This thesis explores how Year 10 social studies students and teachers at Kāpiti College, a secondary school in the North Island of New Zealand, are affected emotionally by whiteness and the White desire to be ‘good’ when learning about colonisation. The influence of whiteness is invisibilised and normalised in the 2023 Aotearoa New Zealand histories curriculum, influencing students and teachers to think of whiteness as ‘neutral’. The new curriculum was introduced to primary and secondary schools in 2023 and was adopted early by Kāpiti College in 2022. Emotional reactions to colonial topics and the effect of whiteness in New Zealand schools have been the subjects of previous research (MacDonald, Funaki, and Smith 2021; MacDonald 2020; Manning 2018; Bell and Russell 2021; MacDonald and Kidman 2021; Harcourt 2020). My research builds on this through an investigation of the influence of the 2023 Aotearoa New Zealand histories curriculum in maintaining and obscuring whiteness. Data was collected over eight weeks of fieldwork with five Year 10 social studies classes at Kāpiti College, using classroom participant observation, teacher semi-structured interviews, one lunchtime focus group with students, and an anonymous student survey. This thesis explores the effect that the dominance of whiteness had on the emotional responses of my participants. This included Pākehā students and teachers and their desire to maintain White innocence, tauiwi students who sometimes bought into that whiteness and did not see their settler stories reflected in the classroom, and Māori students whose anger and sense of injustice were silenced by whiteness. Using Thomassen’s (2014) discussion of liminality, Fassin’s (2013) discussion of resentment and ressentiment, Applebaum’s (2010) discussion of whiteness, and Abraham and Torok’s (1986) cryptonomy, I argue that teachers and students experience varying types of discomfort. These include the desire to be ‘good’ and the resulting moral liminality which influences them to self-censor and become silent. Pākehā teachers and students are unsure how to be ‘good’ in response to the violent histories of colonisation, attempting to suppress uncomfortable emotions within the classroom environment, thus maintaining whiteness and coloniality through silence. Māori students’ emotional expressions are limited by White silences and the omission of Māori resistance histories, disregarded in the name of ‘neutrality’.

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Paradoxes of white moral experience

Abstract: Protesters at Canfield Green Apartments in Ferguson, August 14, 2014. (Lindy Drew)

Cited by 12 publications

References 0 publications

Decoloniality and healthcare higher education: Critical conversations

Decoloniality and healthcare higher education: Critical conversations

“I know I shouldn't say this, but…”

Being 'Good' in the Classroom: Whiteness and Moral Liminality in the 2023 Aotearoa New Zealand Histories Curriculum

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