Teaching Race at Historically White Colleges and Universities: Identifying and Dismantling the Walls of Whiteness

Abstract

In this article we outline the 'walls of whiteness' that make it difficult to teach the sociology of race and racism and make it difficult for students at historically white colleges and universities (HCWUs) to wrestle with these important issues. Most white students enter HWCUs surrounded by these walls -protecting them from attacks on white supremacy -that have multiple layers and therefore are even more difficult to penetrate; yet they must be penetrated. With a few exceptions, the institution of American higher education does not threaten those walls. Instead, college education often bolsters them through curricular and extracurricular experiences, residential and disciplinary isolation, institutional symbols, cultural reproduction, and everyday practices such as grading and classroom interactions. We identify these walls in this article and make suggestions regarding strategies to begin their dismantling.

‘Race’ talk! Tensions and contradictions in sport and PE

“…Like Brunsma et al (2012) and Crowley-Long (1995) this paper discusses ideas emerging from a pedagogy used to 'penetrate the walls' that reinforce Eurocentrism, power and privilege in curricula, the classroom and everyday cultural reproduction. Flintoff et al (2014) argue that the hegemonic whiteness of the teaching profession, in critical issues of 'race' by educators and teachers has led to a lack of recognition of student and teacher centrality and power in processes of racialisation (see also Fitzpatrick and Santamaria 2015).…”

“…Part of this project involves recognition of spaces of domination and resistance that can be one and the same. In addition to the classroom, Brunsma et al (2012) observe how 'race' and racist practices are spun out across different sites including neighbourhoods, friendship patterns, playgrounds, occupations, and the media. In these spaces identities are often constructed as 'seeing is not believing so much as believing is seeing' (Brunsma et al 2012, 722) and it is the integrity of such beliefs that a sociological dialogue can dent, break, and transform.…”

Working With Faculty of Color at a Predominantly White Institution: Challenging Whiteness and Model Minority Stereotypes

“…In my pursuit of knowledge, I realized that I was fortunate to learn through fresh eyes; I did not have to “relearn” U.S. history and society. For U.S.‐born educational developers, especially White educational developers, Whiteness may be invisible and is ingrained in public school settings (Brunsma, Brown, and Placier ); therefore, it may be harder for them to become aware of Whiteness and resist their tendency to minimize racialized experiences of faculty of color. Because I was born and raised in another country, Whiteness as the default was not a given for me.…”

“…Gusa (, 465) writes, “Today's PWIs do not have to be explicitly racist to create a hostile environment. Instead, unexamined historically situated White ideology embedded in the language, cultural practices, traditions, and perception of knowledge allow these institutions to remain racialized.” Whiteness manifests everywhere: in the curriculum (Gusa ; Harper and Hurtado ); the co‐curriculum (Cabrera, Franklin, and Watson ); the hidden curriculum, which is the unspoken and implicit social values and standards in classrooms (Brunsma, Brown, and Palcier ; Leonardo ); the demographics of who holds instructor, staff, and leadership positions (Brunsma, Brown, and Placier ; Cabrera, Franklin, and Watson ); and the physical spaces (Bondi ; Harper and Hurtado ).…”

The Culture of White Space, the Racialized Production of Meaning, and the Jamband Scene

“…Scholars have investigated numerous white spaces over the past several decades, although not always with a fully theorized notion of white space. Research on the structure and functioning of white spaces can be seen in scholarship that has investigated sport (Carrington ), suburban schools (Lewis ), and historically and predominantly white colleges and universities (Brunsma, Brown, and Placier ), electronic dance music (Brunsma, Chapman, and Lellock ; Motl ), the craft beer industry (Withers , ), architecture (Kaplan ), and other predominantly white fields, as well as the cultural fields of classical music (Yoshihara ), gaming (Gray ), art (Bowles ), and the culinary world (Slocum ), to name but a few. These studies have illuminated a variety of experiences and processes that sustain and maintain these spaces as white spaces, but fewer studies have grappled on the cultural and meaning‐making structures within these white spaces (see Withers , for a review).…”