Charles Mills Ain’t Dead! Keeping the spirit of Mills’ work alive by understanding and challenging the unrepentant whiteness of the academy

Abstract

ABSTRACT In this article, we draw upon Charles Mills’ powerful scholarly insights on the racial contract and epistemologies of ignorance and argue for keeping his spirit and theorizing alive through a relentless focus on the endemic reality of racism/white supremacy in our society and institutions – particularly in the institution in which he and we work, higher education. We believe that continuing Mills’ legacy requires pushing back against unrepentant whiteness in the academy – the pervasive white standpoint that naturalizes so much of the inequity that transpires in our academic departments, fields, and institutions. Toward this end, we provide several examples of somewhat mundane ways unrepentant whiteness (in the form of white habitus, group interests, racial apathy, and ignorance) shows up in higher education. These examples explore Mills’ concept of ‘the macro in the micro’, or the every-day ways that white supremacy courses through the tentacles of our colleges and universities.