Tactical Reversal or Re-centring Whiteness? A Response to Green,Sonn,and Matsebula

Abstract

Green, Sonn, and Matsebula (2007) offer critical whiteness studies as a potential form of resistance against the strategic relations of power that constitute racism. While there may be utility in applying and extending international work on whiteness in the South African and Australian contexts, it is important to observe some cautions. First, whiteness manifests differently across contexts, and the type of comparison performed by Green et al. may at times elide important differences between, for example, contexts where whiteness has historically always been on the defensive versus contexts where it has not. Second, whiteness studies runs the risk of uncritically accepting white identity self-articulations. Third, whiteness studies may be incorrectly perceived as a ‘silver bullet’ for understanding and combating racism, rather than as a complementary and often secondary critical tool for anti-racist praxis.

Keywords

anti-racism race race relations racism social change whiteness whiteness studies

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