What Do We Mean By 'Whiteness?'

Whiteness is always working to make itself invisible. Perhaps the most powerful practice and ideology of dehumanization today, whiteness is as pervasive as it is implicit. At colleges and universities, our very methods of research and education are often discretely captured by whiteness. The question, then, is how do we consistently identify, name, and dismantle whiteness in our everyday work? Without an answer to this, educational institutions can never be equitable or accessible.

When it is a task to simply prove its existence, clear definitions of whiteness become essential. Yet, because whiteness is so pervasive, permeable, and adaptable, these definitions can be hard to name and establish. Join Dr. R. Tyler Derreth in a discussion on the importance of establishing definitions and conceptualizations of whiteness as we explore tools for enacting its destruction.