Recent philosophical secondary literature on white ignorance -- a concept most famously developed by the late philosopher Charles W. Mills -- suggests that white ignorance is, one way or another, a non-structural phenomenon. I analyse two such readings, the agential view and the cognitivist view. I argue that they misinterpret Mills' work by…

As part of a larger critical discourse study, I share how engaging with critical texts and discussion was personally and professionally meaningful for participants, despite perceived limitations. To understand how critical pedagogy overlaps and conflicts with contexts of teaching in public schools, I facilitated discussion with teachers in…

Social ontology examines the nature and mechanisms in human society of concepts that pertain to various kinds of social collectivities. A pioneer in the development of this philosophical field, Mills theorised a social metaphysics of "racial constructivism" for modern philosophy in order to explain the enduring orthodoxies of its…

In the face of calls for the standardization and professionalization of leadership education, a sub-field in higher education, it is important to understand who leadership educators are and how they come to understand themselves as belonging to this sub-field. Recent critiques have arisen about the overwhelming whiteness that permeates the…

The more immediate concern of social injustice should explore the significant barriers Black men face in society. Although White America would like you to believe that things have improved, the current climate proves otherwise. The amount of hate toward people of color has been made obvious because of the Donald Trump administration. And one can…

We analyze tweets authored by educators during the COVID-19 pandemic, which Ibram Kendi has called a viral and a racial pandemic, and illustrate how Whiteness feeds the blaming of children and communities of color for trauma. We evaluate tweets that: (1) misused trauma-informed teaching practice in ways characterized by White saviorism; (2) pushed…

Critical Race Theory (CRT) has provided academia a theoretical framework to engage in a conversation and explore the lived experiences of people as they are impacted by the endemic nature of racism. The creation of subsets within CRT have made space for minoritized populations in ways that are specific to them. The author proposes the creation of…

In this paper, Matthew Cowley advances a theoretical approach toward higher education drawn from critical race theory (CRT) and Black Marxism. After an overview of CRT and Black Marxism, Cowley builds a working understanding of two recent (re)conceptualizations of race and class analysis that draw from both: (1) "economies of racism" and…

This essay uses the concept of the white imaginary to reflect on Critical Whiteness Studies (CWS) in education. It examines the field's value but also its limitations, specifically its preoccupation with converting white people as the solution to systemic racism. The conversion approach ignores the fuller structural nature of whiteness and often…

This article takes up the questions: How does Whiteness affect conceptions of Culturally Sustaining Pedagogies (CSP)? Specifically, when it comes to Whiteness, is there a culture worth sustaining? To begin this examination, we first outline what CSP and Whiteness are. Second, we review the literature within Critical Whiteness Studies (CWS) that…

In this paper, we utilize poetic methods that seek to surface, but not overdetermine, the unanticipated relational excess produced through literacy practices. Karen, a queer white woman, and Jordan, a cis-gendered heterosexual Black man, wrote a series of letters to one another throughout the Spring 2020 semester. We turned to critical poetic…

Drum. Guitar. Song. Cue up Brittany Howard's "History Repeats" and notice what happens. For us, something akin to a bluesy-funk hums while reading critical whiteness studies (CWS) through black feminist thought (BFT). Breaking form. Diffractive. Relational. In this essay, we work through prismatic rhythm and consider how Howard's…

This article will situate the development of critical consciousness within practices of leadership and as a conduit for building a commitment to justice. Authors will focus on how this can be developed in those who are situated in privileged positions in systems of power.

The critical race theory concept of 'White supremacy' continues to be a major locus of disagreement between Critical Race Theorists and Marxists regarding both how it operates as a general descriptor of racial power dynamics in the Western world and for its explanatory power in accounting for the multiple forms in which racism manifests.…

As the COVID-19 pandemic invaded our lives in March of 2020, schools were forced to close their doors and urgently transition to remote learning. This action research study is about pre-service elementary teachers (PSTs) in a social justice-focused social studies methods course who used this unprecedented time as valid curricular material. While…