From white privilege to white complicity pedagogy
Biographical Sketch
Savannah Wilcek, Anneliese Waalkes, and Jonah Jones-Stevens are students at DePauw University.
Type of Presentation
Individual presentation
Brief Description of Presentation
While critical media literacy has always been concerned with race, we seek to further nuance this literature by examining how white students' best intentions can reproduce racism.
Abstract of Proposal
When engaging white students in discussions about the racism and representation in the media, students can display a range of reactions. While "distancing strategies," which name the various ways students can distance themselves from racism (e.g., by focusing on progress, saying "it's culture not race," silence), have been considered in critical media literacy, we want to further nuance this conversation. We do so by acknowledging and addressing another, seemingly positive, response, which is when white students embrace critiques of white privilege. We show how this can further reproduce racism by re-centering white moral agency. To do this, we turn to Barbara Applebaum's philosophical work on whiteness and goodness. In doing so, we address the limitations of "white privilege pedagogy," and articulate her "white complicity pedagogy." In conclusion, we show the distinction between these two by engaging examples from media.
Start Date
2-24-2018 9:50 AM
End Date
2-24-2018 11:20 AM
Recommended Citation
Waalkes, Anneliese; Jones-Stevens, Jonah; and Wilcek, Savannah, "From white privilege to white complicity pedagogy" (2018). International Critical Media Literacy Conference. 40.
https://digitalcommons.georgiasouthern.edu/criticalmedialiteracy/2018/2018/40
From white privilege to white complicity pedagogy
When engaging white students in discussions about the racism and representation in the media, students can display a range of reactions. While "distancing strategies," which name the various ways students can distance themselves from racism (e.g., by focusing on progress, saying "it's culture not race," silence), have been considered in critical media literacy, we want to further nuance this conversation. We do so by acknowledging and addressing another, seemingly positive, response, which is when white students embrace critiques of white privilege. We show how this can further reproduce racism by re-centering white moral agency. To do this, we turn to Barbara Applebaum's philosophical work on whiteness and goodness. In doing so, we address the limitations of "white privilege pedagogy," and articulate her "white complicity pedagogy." In conclusion, we show the distinction between these two by engaging examples from media.
