Unhooking From Whiteness

In this third and final volume of Unhooking from Whiteness, the editors move from prepared précises on multicultural education toward actionable conversations that drive social justice agendas and have the power to eliminate educational inequities.

The purpose of Unhooking from Whiteness: The Key to Dismantling Racism in the United States is to reconsider the ways and strategies in which antiracist scholars do their work, as well as to provide pragmatic ways in which people – White and of color – can build cross-racial, cross-communal, and cross-institutional coalitions to fight White supremacy. Employing the methodology of autoethnography, each chapter in this book illustrates the individual journey that the chapter contributor took to “unhook” him or herself from Whiteness. Unhooking from Whiteness explains Whiteness in ways never conceptualized before. The chapters suggest approaches to “unhooking” from Whiteness, while sharing the authors’ continual struggles to identify and eradicate the role of Whiteness in education and society in the United States. The contributors to Unhooking from Whiteness offer us the invaluable gift of their stories, humble reflections on commitments to racial justice and complicities with racial injustice. But they aren’t merely stories – and this is the brilliance of the book – they are invitations into a reconsideration of the “common sense” discussions about the nature of white privilege, the possibility of white anti-racism, and the pervasive tug of whiteness. This is the rare book that shifts the angle and changes the conversation. Paul Gorski, Coordinator of the Social Justice Concentration, George Mason University

"What happens to people when they choose to unhook from the rules and modes of thought whiteness requires and expects of them? Whiteness promotes a form of hegemonic thinking, which influences not only thought processes but also behavior within the academy. Working to dismantle the racism and whiteness that continue to keep oppressed people powerless and immobilized in academe requires sharing power, opportunity, and access. Removing barriers to the knowledge created in higher education is an essential part of this process. The process of unhooking oneself from institutionalized whiteness certainly requires fighting hegemonic modes of thought and patriarchal views that persistently keep marginalized groups of academics in their station (or at their institution). In the explosive Unhooking from Whiteness: Resisting the Esprit de Corps, editors Hartlep and Hayes continue the conversation they began in 2013; they and the chapter contributors are brave enough to tell a contemporary reality few are brave enough to discuss. “In this groundbreaking and revolutionary sequel volume to Unhooking from Whiteness: The Key to Dismantling Racism in the United States, Nicholas Hartlep and Cleveland Hayes and a group of fearless scholars-activists continue to manifest liberative counternarratives, counteraccounts, personal memoirs, poetry, and testimonios of ‘humanity destroying crimes’ of racism, white supremacy, and ‘academic lynching’ that pervade the academic psyche through epistemology, ontology, and axiology in the United States. This radical work poses a troubling challenge to humanity not only to unhook from, but also to contest, transgress, and liberate from, white supremacy to cultivate extraordinary human potential in a trembling and unjust world.” – Ming Fang He, Georgia Southern University Nicholas D. Hartlep is an award-winning Assistant Professor of Educational Foundations at Illinois State University and co-editor of Unhooking from Whiteness: The Key to Dismantling Racism in the United States and Critical Storytelling in Uncritical Times: Stories Disclosed in a Cultural Foundations of Education Course. He lives and writes in Normal, Illinois.www.nicholashartlep.com Cleveland Hayes is an Associate Professor in the College of Education and Organizational Leadership at the University of La Verne. Dr. Hayes teaches Secondary and Elementary Science Methods in the Teacher Education program and Research Methods in the Education Management and Leadership Program. He lives and writes in Upland, California."

"What does it look like to let go of Whiteness? Whiteness promotes a form of hegemonic thinking, which influences not only thought processes but also behavior within the academy. Working to dismantle the racism and whiteness that continue to keep oppressed people powerless and immobilized in academe requires sharing power, opportunity, and access. Removing barriers to the knowledge created in higher education is an essential part of this process. The process of unhooking oneself from institutionalized whiteness certainly requires fighting hegemonic modes of thought and patriarchal views that persistently keep marginalized groups of academics in their station (or at their institution). In the explosive Unhooking from Whiteness: Resisting the Esprit de Corps, editors Hartlep and Hayes continued the conversation they began in 2013 with Unhooking from Whiteness: The Key to Dismantling Racism in the United States. This third and final volume focuses on the writers' processes to let go of the pathology of Whiteness. The contributors in this book have once again come from an intersection of races, ethnicities, sexual identities and gender identities and includes conversations across these multiple intersections. The editors move from prepared précises on multicultural education toward actionable conversations that drive social justice agendas and have the power to eliminate educational inequities"--

This volume presents personal essays that explore the effects of whiteness in the workplace, both illuminating the perniciousness of whiteness and recording the downright appalling manifestations of it. Some contributions here describe overt discrimination and hateful acts experienced by the writers themselves, while others describe how whiteness has affected colleagues, clients, students and friends. Using a combination of storytelling and scholarship, the collection makes a compelling case for effecting changes in individuals who, and systems that, perpetuate disparities of opportunity, compensation, advancement and well-being.

By applying an auto-ethnographic approach in this volume to share and explore the experiences of prospective teachers as they navigate the preparation and credentialing processes of teacher education, we – as those who have gone before the future educators in this text and those who will come behind them, gain first hand insights from these young women and men about what it means and how to better prepare prospective educators to become a teacher against a backdrop of historical inequities in schooling and prepared for the multi-culturally diverse classrooms of today.

Racial Battle Fatigue in Faculty examines the challenges faced by diverse faculty members in colleges and universities. Highlighting the experiences of faculty of color—including African American, Asian American, Hispanic American, and Indigenous populations—in higher education across a range of institutional types, chapter authors employ an autoethnographic approach to the telling of their stories. Chapters illustrate on-the-ground experiences, elucidating the struggles and triumphs of faculty of color as they navigate the historically White setting of higher education, and provide actionable strategies to help faculty and administrators combat these issues. This book gives voice to faculty struggles and arms graduate students, faculty, and administrators committed to diversity in higher education with the specific tools needed to reduce Racial Battle Fatigue (RBF) and make lasting and impactful change.

Mentoring While White: Culturally Responsive Practices for Sustaining the Lives of Black College Students provides a provocative and illuminating account of the mentoring experiences of Black college and university students based on their racialized and marginalized identities. Bettie Ray Butler, Abiola Farinde-Wu, and Melissa Winchell bring together a diverse group of well-respected leading and emerging scholars to present new and compelling arguments pointing to what white faculty should do to reimagine mentoring that seeks to sustain the lives of Black students by way of intentionality, reciprocal love, and transformative practice. This timely and relevant text takes a solution-oriented approach in offering direct guidance, promising strategies, and key insights on how to effectively implement culturally responsive mentoring practices that aim to improve cross-racial mentor-mentee relationships and post-school outcomes for Black students in higher education. It provides clear and immediate recommendations that can inform and positively shape mentoring interactions with Black women, men, and queer undergraduate and graduate students using innovative models that draw upon critical media and antiracist frameworks. The book is a must-read for anyone who currently mentors or desires to mentor Black college and university students.