Looking as white : anti-racism apps, appearance and racialized embodiment

Smartphone apps for anti-racism education and intervention are being developed by organisations in various countries. The ubiquity of smartphone use and app methodology, as Grant argues, have the potential to disrupt racial knowledges and facilitate anti-racist action. I use Nicholas Mirzoeff's 'zones of appearance and non-appearance' and Derek Hook's discussion of 'racialising embodiment' to discuss the potential of one such app, Everyday Racism, to challenge and disrupt white supremacy. The Australian-based app uses gamification to encourage users to participate in 'bystander anti-racism'. However, by failing to question the neutrality of the default white bystander, the app risks reproducing hegemonic constellations of white agency versus racialized inaction. I argue that, in the zone of appearance, it is not enough to make racism apparent. It is necessary to appear. To appear first requires exposing nonappearance including the role even of the well-intentioned in maintaining it.