What are White People to Do? Listening, Challenging Ignorance, Generous Encounters and the ‘Not Yet’ as Diversity Research Praxis

Abstract

Responding to the call to theorize praxis in relation to philosophy and white diversity research, I draw on philosophers of race, and in particular collective white ignorance, and generous encounters to argue for listening as a form of progressive white praxis. While praxis has been theorized in feminist theory in relation to knowledge, standpoint and bodies, literature neglects how whiteness structures the production of knowledge and praxis. I argue that an understanding of white praxis should entail an examination of white epistemology, white ignorance and encounters with the stranger. At the same time, heeding critical race theorists’ cautions about critical whiteness studies and white feminism, I propose ways in which listening could begin to work as a form of white praxis responding to racism in research on diversity and organizations.

Stopped in our tracks: From ‘giving an account’ to an ethics of recognition in feminist praxis

“…As Swan (, p. 547) outlines, when hearing stories such as Bigali's ‘the impulse towards action is understandable and complicated’. It is understandable because doing something is a defence against the shock (including the shock of the complicity that is revealed); it is complicated because of the impulse to make amends, to somehow reconcile or ‘re‐cover’ the past.…”

“…It is understandable because doing something is a defence against the shock (including the shock of the complicity that is revealed); it is complicated because of the impulse to make amends, to somehow reconcile or ‘re‐cover’ the past. The desire to act is as complex, Swan argues, because of the assumption of various subject positions on the part of those who feel a need to ‘do’ something: to make public a sense of moral outrage; to express solidarity or to demonstrate optimism in the restorative capacity of the future, rephrased, Swan argues, as a rhetorical call to activism: ‘what can be done?’ Swan's critique of this impetus rests on the idea that the desire to act, albeit with the best of intentions, can work to ‘block’ hearing, a process that can ‘stop the message getting through’ (Ahmed, , cited in Swan, , p. 547). Putting it starkly, Swan argues that ‘white researchers need to listen and learn’, and stop trying to ‘make a difference’.…”

“…This presents a number of challenges that we consider in more detail below. Not least of these is that, as Ahmed (cited in Swan, ) insists, white people's yearning to make a difference often means that we see ourselves as the agents of ‘good’ praxis . Indeed, as Swan (, p. 549) and others have noted, critical race theorists and activists often view so‐called ‘white praxis’ with ‘suspicion and cynicism’ (see also Sullivan, , cited in Swan, , p. 549).…”

“…Not least of these is that, as Ahmed (cited in Swan, ) insists, white people's yearning to make a difference often means that we see ourselves as the agents of ‘good’ praxis . Indeed, as Swan (, p. 549) and others have noted, critical race theorists and activists often view so‐called ‘white praxis’ with ‘suspicion and cynicism’ (see also Sullivan, , cited in Swan, , p. 549). This carries the risk of further ‘undoing’ those whose stories we tell, exploiting their relative vulnerability and unreflexively replicating a white, middle‐class, colonial philanthropy (Applebaum, ; Moreton‐Robinson, ).…”

“…Doing so, as the grammatical and epistemological basis of speaking on behalf of Others as a justification for ‘doing good’ with one's privilege, whilst leaving the latter intact, has been the subject of increasing critique. As Swan (, p. 547) puts it, when summing up these growing concerns: ‘contra to the postfeminist marketing injunction, white feminists should not “just do it”’.…”