Death can be clarifying: Considering the forces that move us
Date
2024
Authors
Schulz, S.
Editors
Bargallie, D.
Fernando, N.
Fernando, N.
Advisors
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Type:
Book chapter
Citation
Critical racial and decolonial literacies: Breaking the silence, 2024 / Bargallie, D., Fernando, N. (ed./s), Ch.18, pp.261-275
Statement of Responsibility
Samantha Schulz
Conference Name
Abstract
Emotions always do things. They may move us and prompt uncomfortable, if necessary, social change. Equally, they may crystallize in ‘affective numbness’ (Rogers, 2021) – the impulse and capacity to say or do nothing, which is facilitated by race privilege. As Machado de Oliveira (2021: 52) says with respect to those of us who enjoy the relative (if differential) privileges born of modernity, ‘despite our transgressions and rebellions and our ideals of revolution, our struggles do not structurally jeopardize our survival: we have a choice to show up or not’. Within the context of Australian higher education, affective numbness manifests most fluidly around and through those of us who are white. It may surface as the failure to raise difficult if necessary workplace conversations which challenge racial bias; to initiate ‘taboo’ conversations around race with majority white, often resistant learners; or to fail ‘to emotionally or “affectively” engage with nondominant experiences’ (Zembylas, 2023: 2). Research and teaching on race in white Australia is emotional – especially within teacher education, where most preservice teachers are white. Indeed, Australian teachers frequently report being ‘scared’ (Maher, 2022) if not ‘paralysed’ (Memon et al, 2023) in their efforts to embrace this discomforting terrain. Yet working with racialized emotions is a part of effective, ethical teaching.
School/Discipline
Dissertation Note
Provenance
Description
Access Status
Rights
© Bristol University Press 2024