The enlightenment narrative: White student leaders’ preoccupation with racial innocence.

Abstract

In a supposed colorblind, postracial society (Bonilla-Silva, 2013;Johnston-Guerrero, 2016), racism and White supremacy are located in only the most overtly bigoted White people. However, critical whiteness studies (Applebaum, 2010;Leonardo, 2009) challenge us to consider how all White people, regardless of intentions, contribute to the maintenance and production of Whiteness and White supremacy. Drawing on critical whiteness studies and guided by narrative inquiry, this article reports on the nature of students' cocurricular involvement and how these experiences shaped and informed their engagement with racism and Whiteness. The results illuminate what I call the enlightenment narrative, or a particular discursive strategy concerned with presenting oneself as a racially conscious and progressive White student leader. The narrative underscores how these White student leaders were more concerned with a presentation of the self as racially good and innocent than any meaningful critique of racism and White supremacy. Further, by situating themselves as racially enlightened and aware, participants located themselves outside of the problem of White supremacy, instead understanding themselves as educators for other White students. The results from this study offer an important contribution to the literature on Whiteness in higher education, as White student leaders, by virtue of their positions on campus, have a disproportionate influence on the institutional racial climate.

#StayMadAbby: Reframing affirmative action discourse and White entitlement on Black Twitter.

“…The idea that a White person has a right to privileges due to the "normalcy" of Whiteness, as well as presumed White superiority and power in dominant culture (Foste, 2019). The assumption that White people are exceptionally qualified and should receive what they desire whether that be admissions to their preferred college, a job they apply for, or an apartment for rent (Allen & Solo ´rzana, 2001;Delgado, 1991).…”

“…REFRAMING AFFIRMATIVE ACTION DISCOURSE due to the "normalcy" of Whiteness and presumed White superiority and power in dominant culture (Foste, 2019). Concurrently, White entitlement is the belief that White people should always have the opportunity to work their way up the system, even if they are undercredentialed.…”

Disrupting the Big Lie: Higher Education and Whitelash in a Post/Colorblind Era

“…That is, CWS work must explicitly name the material effects of whiteness on the lives of Students, Faculty, and Staff of Color. A majority of CWS work in higher education has focused exclusively on white people (Cabrera, 2019;Foste, 2019Foste, , 2020Tevis, 2020) [12,13,31,55,56]. and has largely operated from an assumption that whiteness is normative and invisible to white people (Cabrera, 2019;Foste, 2019) [12,55].…”

“…As described above, far too often, critical whiteness scholars in post-secondary education have directed their attention toward topics such as white racial identity, meaningmaking, and racialized behaviors (e.g., Cabrera, 2014a, b, c; Foste, 2019, 2020; Foste & Jones, 2020; Linder, 2015; Tevis, 2020) [15,[25][26][27]30,31,55,56]. Although this body of scholarship has contributed much to the profession's understanding, it has fallen short of engaging the historical underpinnings that have undergirded the contemporary functionings of white-ness and white supremacy relative to higher education.…”

A Whitened Rainbow: The In/visibility of Race and Racism in LGBTQ+ Higher Education Scholarship

“…Less analysis and attention were given to white students and investigations of whiteness in study samples and participant pools. Given the rise in studies examining whiteness in higher education (e.g., Cabrera et al, 2017;Foste, 2020;Tevis, 2020), scholars may pursue empirical investigations of white queer and trans students' simultaneous understanding of privilege and marginalization. For instance, some scholars point out that white students are the primary beneficiaries of safe zone curricula common on campuses (Fox, 2007;Fox & Ore, 2010).…”