ERIC Number: EJ1034260
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2013
Pages: 22
Abstractor: As Provided
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-0017-8055
EISSN: N/A
Available Date: N/A
McIntosh as Synecdoche: How Teacher Education's Focus on White Privilege Undermines Antiracism
Lensmire, Timothy J.; McManimon, Shannon K.; Tierney, Jessica Dockter; Lee-Nichols, Mary E.; Casey, Zachary A.; Lensmire, Audrey; Davis, Bryan M.
Harvard Educational Review, v83 n3 p410-431 Fall 2013
In this article, members of the Midwest Critical Whiteness Collective argue that Peggy McIntosh's seminal "knapsack" article acts as a synecdoche, or as a stand-in, for all the antiracist work to be done in teacher education and that this limits our understanding and possibilities for action. The authors develop this argument by questioning the lack of critique of McIntosh's 1988 classic "invisible knapsack" article and sharing two narratives by members of their collective that illustrate problems with both the acceptance and the rejection of McIntosh's conception of white privilege. This discussion illuminates how white privilege pedagogy demands confession and how confession is a dead end for antiracist action. The authors also explore how McIntosh's ideas can lead to dangerous misreadings of student resistance. Acknowledging the initial fruitfulness of McIntosh's ideas, it is time for us to move to more complex treatments of working with white people on questions of race, white supremacy, and antiracism.
Descriptors: Teacher Education Programs, Racial Bias, Racial Factors, Whites, Social Attitudes, Social Justice, Teaching Methods, Self Disclosure (Individuals), Social Bias, Racial Identification, Communities of Practice
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Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Evaluative
Education Level: Higher Education; Postsecondary Education
Audience: N/A
Language: English
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Author Affiliations: N/A