Better the devil you see, than the one you don’t: bearing witness to emboldened en-whitening epistemology in the Trump era

Cheryl E. Matias, Peter M. Newlove

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

32 Scopus citations

Abstract

Critical scholars of race maintain that racism that is not clearly seen every day is the most dangerous kind. Notwithstanding ‘invisible’ racism qua racism without racists—per some race scholars—explorations on mechanisms of Whiteness in the Trump era must be had. One mechanism is perpetuating epistemological racial ignorance. However, that epistemological moment has passed. Instead, US society is returning to an emboldened en/whitening epistemology characterized by perverse re-appropriation of civil rights terminologies—once used to support People of Color—to instead strengthen White nationalism. Towards racial justice—dismantling White supremacy—we unveil how Whiteness incites an en/whitening epistemological moment so captured in today’s mindsets. Methodologically employing critical hermeneutics, specifically, metaphors, to forever remind Whiteness as dehumanization, this paper identifies the devil of Whiteness so to facilitate the futurity of humanity.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)920-928
Number of pages9
JournalInternational Journal of Qualitative Studies in Education
Volume30
Issue number10
DOIs
StatePublished - Nov 26 2017

Bibliographical note

Publisher Copyright:
© 2017 Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group.

Keywords

  • Whiteness
  • critical hermeneutics
  • en-whitening epistemology
  • race
  • racism

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Education

Fingerprint

Dive into the research topics of 'Better the devil you see, than the one you don’t: bearing witness to emboldened en-whitening epistemology in the Trump era'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.

Cite this