Abstract
“I had a real problem with this idea of experiencing whiteness because I don't think I ever have experienced it. ... I've never felt anything about being different from anyone else. It's been a non-issue for me. I've tried to look back and invent stories and ... look for things that have to do with being white, but I just can't think of any.†(Michael) “... we're supposed to be the most multiracial society in the world but, but we don't have colour as such. There's [sic] Aborigines ... but we don't see them. So it's just something that you never come across.†(Richard) It is almost impossible to imagine the everyday realities that could give rise to this last statement, yet it succinctly expresses what has been termed the invisibility and normativity of whiteness. In societies where whiteness is not seen as a marker of difference, the privileges that whiteness accrues are also elided. This paper speaks to the absent presence of whiteness, and the importance of breaking the silence of whiteness: “... while we wait in silence for that final luxury of fearlessness, the weight of that silence will choke us. The fact that we are here and that I speak these words is an attempt to break that silence and bridge some of those differences between us, for it is not difference which immobilises us, but silence. And there are so many silences to be broken.†Audre Lorde's words, though from another time and to a different audience, are still relevant to the work of challenging structures of dominance  whether in relation to race, class, gender or sexuality  and to challenging our fears of difference. In this regard it might seem odd to claim a silence for whiteness, given that many of us live in a world where whiteness is rarely silenced, speaking to us and through us seemingly unfettered and unchallenged. Yet for many who are white, there is a deafening silence, a numbness and a denial of the place of whiteness in discourses of race and racism. Breaking this silence creates spaces for different and multiple voices, breaking the hegemony of the dominant white voice. What follows is an overview of the terrain of whiteness studies and the particularities of researching whiteness within a pedagogical site: my own experience teaching the unit 'Working with Cultural Differences in Educational Settings' at the University of Western Sydney.
Original language | English |
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Number of pages | 8 |
Journal | JAS\, Australia's public intellectual forum |
Publication status | Published - 2003 |
Keywords
- Australia
- Whites
- race identity
- racial discrimination
- sociology