Feeling White: Whiteness, Emotionality, and Education

摘要

Feeling White: Whiteness, Emotionality, and Education attacks an underlying cause of racialized politics in education, which is the overwhelming influence of White identity within the American school system. The emotions and "white savior" mentality (p. 9) of educators in urban settings is a catalyst impacting and shaping social injustices that our urban youth face in classrooms today. Drawing from her personal experiences as a K-12 educator in urban school districts and her encounters as a professor of color in higher education, Dr. Matias shares her counterstories (Solorzano & Yosso, 2002) of struggle and racialized fears commonly faced by people of color. Using her narratives like a scalpel, she cuts through the saliency and narcissistic bias (p. 79) imparted from her college students, colleagues, and audience members to drive home the tears shed by those exhausted of fighting for their rights to be heard. In a warrior's cry for a humanizing love in education (p. 54), this book acknowledges the tears shed by students of color while offering a pedagogy that allows White educators to examine their own systems of beliefs and bias, confront their fears, and reshape their White identity into one of diversity— capable of loving all students regardless of his or her background, religious affiliation, or skin color.