Queering whiteness studies: exploring the (im)possibility of antiracist pedagogy as imagined by white, queer educators

Abstract

This paper engages the possibilities and paradoxes of antiracist pedagogy through an empirical analysis of white, queer postsecondary educators’ conceptualizations of and efforts toward antiracist teaching. Grounded in queer theory and Yoon’s articulation of whiteness-at-work, this research utilized narrative inquiry methodology to explore the (im)possibility of antiracist teaching for white educators. Findings point to the influence of queer subjectivity on participants’ ideas about and efforts toward antiracist pedagogical practice. Analysis of participants’ narratives illustrates multiple sites of tension and two forms of paradox (inward and outward) in their antiracist teaching efforts. Rather than offering so-called best practices of antiracist teaching, this research suggests queered approaches to antiracist pedagogy, articulated as an embrace of paradox.