Surviving the Survival Narrative Part 1: Internalised Racism and the Limits of Resistance

Abstract

The concept of internalised racism (IR) has been criticised for its potential utilisation to perpetuate ‘victim blaming’. In describing the racialised subject’s indoctrination to racist beliefs about themselves and/or their group, the concept of IR has been a point of difficulty for scholarship which sustains a hyper-focus on racialised resistance towards structural racism and its effects. Some scholars have highlighted that this hyper-focus on resistance is connected to a political stance which essentialises racialised subjects as always resisting. In this article, I further this argument by demonstrating the limitations within resistance strategies employed by some racialised subjects. I utilise participants’ narratives from a wider study to highlight three forms of limitations (conscious renouncing, inadvertent complicity, and non-resistance) in resisting racist ideology. I then draw on these examples to problematise scholarship that sustain a hyper-focus on resistance, one that may inadvertently foreclose the deeper impact of racism upon the racialised.

Rapua te kurahuna: an occupational perspective of internalised oppression

“…Internalised oppression can be known and unknown, practised as an individual and collectively, with some well aware of their self-hate (David et al, 2019; Memmi, 1965). In Pyke (2010) and Seet’s (2020) studies that focused on perspectives of new migrants from Asia to the USA and Australia respectively, participants shared insights into the pervasive, all-encompassing internalisation of dominant ideologies in their everyday lives. Research such as Pyke’s (2010) and Seet’s (2020) usefully allow for comparison of lived memory of pre-migration ways of being, alongside real-time assimilation patterns.…”

“…In Pyke (2010) and Seet’s (2020) studies that focused on perspectives of new migrants from Asia to the USA and Australia respectively, participants shared insights into the pervasive, all-encompassing internalisation of dominant ideologies in their everyday lives. Research such as Pyke’s (2010) and Seet’s (2020) usefully allow for comparison of lived memory of pre-migration ways of being, alongside real-time assimilation patterns. Such positioning of research provides invaluable insights into how internalised oppression is seeded and grows over time.…”

“…Despite the pervasiveness of colloquial expressions that describe and convey deep emotions about internalised oppression, studies are few and far between. Indeed, internalised oppression is the most devastating form of racism, because it is the least examined, discussed and understood (Seet, 2020; Speight, 2007).…”

“…Paradies (2006, p. 151) defined internalised racism as “the incorporation of racist attitudes, beliefs or ideologies within an actor’s worldview” that manifests in either internalised dominance such as privilege, or internalised oppression such as self-subordination. Literature regarding the second aspect of internalised racism—internalised oppression—tends to focus on survival, acquiescence and resistance narratives (Seet, 2020). We argue that internalised oppression also includes focused, intentional actions to perpetuate and maintain colonialism by centring white supremacist ways of being as one’s own.…”

“…In addition, racist targeting of Māori (Indigenous people of Aotearoa New Zealand) occupational therapists has at times been led by Māori occupational therapists and has recently involved new migrants to our shores. Scholarship regarding internalised racism suggests that such expressions of racism are not as atypical as they first appear; rather, colonialism is working exactly as intended (Seet, 2020). As authors from a vibrant community of Māori occupational therapists, we offer our unpacked reckonings and scholarly investigation of internalised oppression in service of white supremacy to help make sense of targeted racism across our professional spaces.…”