WHITENESS IN HIGHER EDUCATION.
ANDREW ILLMAN, ROYAL COLLEGE OF ART.
How can the White voice be utilised for the purpose of challenging racial discrimination within education? ‘The paradox of education is precisely this - that as one begins to become conscious, one begins to examine the society in which he is being educated.’[1]
[1]. Baldwin, J, ‘A Talk to Teacher’. (1963) <http://richgibson.com/talktoteachers.htm> [accessed 28 March 2017]. 40 // PEEKABOO WE SEE YOU: WHITENESS
It is important to contextualise this submission through the social position of which I am writing it. I am a White middle class person who has lived life with many privileges. The most relevant, in terms of this piece of writing, being that I have never experienced racism being directed at me, and most likely never will. A perspective of this privilege, which resonates with me is outlined rather succinctly by Schlosser; ‘I’ve never had a stranger just starting touching my hair on the subway. Or my skin. No one’s ever asked me why my art is about my Whiteness. Or to justify why
