Dessentializing Difference: Transformative Visions in Contemporary Black Thought

Unlearning racism through transformative interracial dialogue

“…I use Collins (2000) as a theoretical framework, supported by Freire's (1996) education for critical consciousness. For the more detailed analysis of unlearning racism, I use Hooks' (1994Hooks' ( , 1995Hooks' ( , 2000 conditions for unlearning racism, McPhail's (2002McPhail's ( , 2004 discussion of interracial dialogue, and critical race theory (Doane, 2003;Essed, 1991;Frankenberg, 1993). I define dominating behavior resulting from 'White privilege' as one important manifestation of racism.…”

“…Studying online dialogues, McKee (2002) found that when Whites speak of racism as unrelated to themselves, Blacks respond with direct expressions of anger and refer to personal experiences. Black intellectuals have long discussed how rage, militancy and confrontation can bring Whites across this epistemological barrier (McPhail, 2002;Hooks, 1994). Malcolm X criticized Blacks who claim that rage has no place in antiracist struggle, who repress their rage to make Whites listen in dialogues where Whites set the terms.…”

“…Critical scholars point out that this rarely happens in interracial dialogue between people who identify as White and Black. In interracial dialogue, power relations, biases, and discrimination, are obstacles to empathetic understanding and transformation (Barrett, 2013;McKee, 2002;McPhail, 2002McPhail, , 2004Simpson, 2008). Antiracist educator Christine Sleeter et al (1997, p. x) argues that transformative interracial dialogues are necessary if we want to dismantle institutional racism, but she also acknowledges that such dialogues are rare and difficult to develop.…”

“…Postcolonial and feminist theorists suggest that the barrier is epistemological. White people's disconnected and rationalistic approach to perceiving the world and communicating about it, including the 'colorblind approach' that seeks to end racism by ignoring race (Bonilla-Silva, 2006), is an obstacle to understanding and empathizing with Blacks (Hooks, 1994(Hooks, , 1995McKee, 2002;McPhail, 2002McPhail, , 2004Simpson, 2008;Sleeter et al, 1997).…”

The Contours of Progress: Parsing Diversity and Difference Studies

“…It has been articulated by scholars of color for decades across all specialty areas in our field (Asante & Miike, 2013;Hendrix, 1998;Jackson & Moshin, 2011;McPhail, 2002;Ono, 1997;Orbe & Allen, 2008;Yep, 2007) including the call for a critical progressive pedagogy in the 2003 special issue of Communication Education we edited 13 years ago (Hendrix, Jackson, & Warren, 2003;. The difference is the message now has a better chance of being heard and acted upon.…”