What Does It Mean to Be White?

A Conceptual Model for Understanding Academic Physicians’ Performances of Identity: Findings From the University of Utah

“…We use the term “minoritized” 24 to refer to participants who self-identified with racial and gender groups that have historically suffered systematic oppression in the United States. 19 This included non-White participants who identified as Black/African American, American Indian/Alaska Native, Native Hawaiian or Pacific Islander, Asian or Asian American, Hispanic or Latino/a, or multiracial, as well as participants from all racial groups who identified as women (no one self-identified as gender non-conforming).…”

“…After much discussion, we agreed to use the term “minoritized” rather than “minority,” because minoritized reflects our understanding that identities are socially constructed. The term “non-minoritized” refers to White, non-Latino participants and to men, groups that have historically received privilege in the United States 19 and in the medical field and are considered the comparator group for other physicians 5,10 Though we explored race and gender as distinct identities, we recognize that identities are intersectional 24,25 and that individuals may identify as minoritized with respect to one identity while identifying as non-minoritized in another, meaning that White women can identify as both non-minoritized and minoritized.…”

Powerblindness

“…But open discrimination is not always necessary in order to justify one's position of privilege (Bush ; DiAngelo ). Eduardo Bonilla‐Silva () identifies four tropes that European‐Americans commonly use in order to justify racial privilege without being openly racist: “abstract liberalism,” the idea that everybody has an equal shot at success; the “naturalization” of racial inequality as inevitable and simply “the way it is”; “cultural racism” that blames the victims of inequality for their self‐defeating cultural practices; and “minimization of racism” that denies the extent of racial inequality.…”

Editorial: Diversity in Medical Education

“…At this level, researchers and educators focus on curricular and knowledge content, on analyzing how a diversity perspective enhances knowledge, and thus, health care practices. Fixing the knowledge, both from a biomedical and constructivist perspective, may be promising not only to improve future doctors' competences, but also because it creates spaces for intentionally discussing identities and what they mean for health, for health care, and thus, for teaching and learning (11,12,19). For that, some soul searching is required.…”

“…Ultimately, schools strive for interactional diversity with positive interactions between students and staff with diverse background (14). But bringing students together is insufficient to establish positive interactions -all too often, students are segregated due to processes of Othering (4,13) and positive interactions can only occur when we increase our competences to deal with 'emotive' issues (13,19). And when minoritized, underrepresented, or subordinate groups are supposed to fully accommodate to the norms of dominant groups without reflection (11,19), new learning climates in 'transformed institutions' are unlikely to emerge.…”