TY - JOUR
T1 - Mcintosh as synecdoche
T2 - How teacher education's focus on white privilege undermines antiracism
AU - Lensmire, Timothy J.
AU - McManimon, Shannon K.
AU - Tierney, Jessica Dockter
AU - Lee-Nichols, Mary E.
AU - Casey, Zachary A.
AU - Lensmire, Audrey
AU - Davis, Bryan M.
PY - 2013
Y1 - 2013
N2 - 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.
AB - 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.
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U2 - 10.17763/haer.83.3.35054h14l8230574
DO - 10.17763/haer.83.3.35054h14l8230574
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:84885093995
SN - 0017-8055
VL - 83
SP - 410
EP - 431
JO - Harvard Educational Review
JF - Harvard Educational Review
IS - 3
ER -