Unhooking from Whiteness: It’s a Process

What does it look like to let go of Whiteness?

Whiteness promotes a form of hegemonic thinking, which influences not only thought processes but also behavior within the academy. Working to dismantle the racism and whiteness that continue to keep oppressed people powerless and immobilized in academe requires sharing power, opportunity, and access. Removing barriers to the knowledge created in higher education is an essential part of this process. The process of unhooking oneself from institutionalized whiteness certainly requires fighting hegemonic modes of thought and patriarchal views that persistently keep marginalized groups of academics in their station (or at their institution). In the explosive Unhooking from Whiteness: Resisting the Esprit de Corps, editors Hartlep and Hayes continued the conversation they began in 2013 with Unhooking from Whiteness: The Key to Dismantling Racism in the United States.

This third and final volume focuses on the writers’ processes to let go of the pathology of Whiteness. The contributors in this book have once again come from an intersection of races, ethnicities, sexual identities and gender identities and includes conversations across these multiple intersections. The editors move from prepared precises on multicultural education toward actionable conversations that drive social justice agendas and have the power to eliminate educational inequities.