Focusing on the lived experience of people affected by systems of oppression is one important part of anti-racism and anti-oppressive work. However one key element is usually missing from how we think and how we understand racism, that is naming and examining the forces and the systems that allow the dynamics of oppression to be reproduced continuously, thus maintaining the status quo.
Whiteness though, is usually normalised and unnamed in our society. Whiteness is the norm against which differences are compared, usually problematised and at times even pathologised. By turning our gaze towards whiteness and its functioning, we are finally problematising the source of the issue instead of the groups targeted by racism.
The aim of this course is to do precisely that by defining and describing what whiteness is and how it functions, while inviting our participants to reflect on their own internalised whiteness and the ways in this they could be reproducing these dynamics.
The course is suitable for all professionals, staff, managers and others with an interest in psychology, social justice, AND anti-racism.
Grasp basic definitions of whiteness and its impact
Learn how colonialism and racism are historically connected to present-day oppression
Learn how colonialism and racism are connected to present-day gender and sexual oppression around the world
Introductions and Reflective Skills
The Construction of Whiteness
Reflective Exercises
Whiteness as a culture: what does that mean?
The violence of whiteness
Systemic Reproductions of whiteness
Reflective Exercises
Challenging whiteness
A process of change
Reflective Exercises
