Whiteness and White Privilege: Problematizing Race and Racism in a “Color-blind” World and in Education

Your Privilege Is Trending: Confronting Whiteness on Social Media

“…It is considered normal and neutral, the yardstick against which other races are measured (Carr, 2016). In Australia, statistics and policy-discussions around race use the categories "Indigenous" (who make up 3% of the population according to Australian Bureau of Statistics [ABS], 2016) and "non-Indigenous."…”

“…Among racial categories, whiteness is often the invisible default (Case, 2012). It is considered normal and neutral, the yardstick against which other races are measured (Carr, 2016). In Australia, statistics and policy-discussions around race use the categories “Indigenous” (who make up 3% of the population according to Australian Bureau of Statistics [ABS], 2016) and “non-Indigenous.” This first of all homogenises Australia’s First Nations peoples, who more accurately come from two distinct groups: Aboriginal peoples, who occupied the mainland of Australia prior to European invasion, and Torres Strait Islander peoples, traditional owners of the islands and surrounding sea between the north of Queensland and Papua New Guinea.…”

“…However, color blind ideologies ignore non-White realities of ongoing racism. It is thus necessary for White people to acknowledge and confront their privilege to truly move beyond White supremacy (Carr, 2016; Case, 2012). Doing so might enable White people to “perhaps use our privilege to make personal, community and systemic change” (Maddison, 2011, p. 114).…”

What Do Structural Racism and Oppression Have to Do With Scholarship, Research, and Practice in Art Therapy?

“…Compared to the rest of society, the profession of art therapy has been and still is primarily constituted of an unusually high percentage of white people (Elkins & Deaver, 2015). This is problematic because as Carr (2016) has noted, Since Whiteness is extensive, often elusive, well protected, nebulous, and extremely difficult to unravel and identify, it is essential that discussions, deliberations, and action plans be conceptualized and implemented to address, at myriad levels, White power, and privilege in and through education. (p. 74) Racism and oppression reside not just in individuals, but also within larger institutions and societal structures (Metzl, Petty, & Olowojoba, 2017).…”

Identity drum: an indigenous framework exploring identity loss, discovery and recovery through autoethnography

“…This understanding allows one to examine their own biases and blind spots so they can move towards explicit attempts to be reflective in their findings. Many educators are white, and many white people believe that being white is a neutral raceless identity (Carr, 2016). In Canada, classrooms are becoming very diverse with many different races, and cultures, and in order to best meet the needs of learners, one must first understand how their own identity, lived experience, and privilege can affect their learners.…”