Whiteness Discussion Questions

Hiya!

Thought I'd post a discussion question from the whiteness readings. I thought this one might spark some discussion since we've talked about it in class some:



I was fascinated by the discussion of white, female students crying in the classroom in “(Un)hinging Whiteness.” I’ve heard of this phenomenon before, but I’d never considered the way that it functions to re-center whiteness in discussions of racism. Rowe and Malhotra talk about the role that guilt plays in this phenomenon and express their disdain for guilt because of its inherent stagnation (when they are interested in movement). How does guilt differ from shame? When is crying a move to bring embodied grief into the classroom, and when is it a stagnating cry for affirmation? When is it both or neither? What other roles does or can crying in the classroom play?

Shara