The Implicit Association Test resultsThe Implicit Association Test results

Results from the US race implicit association testResults from the US race implicit association test

Spinning into Butter

Explanation of exercise Consider the statements in front of you

As a group, choose four statements. These will be statements that you feel most strongly about (positively, negatively or ambivalently).

These statements are primarily from the point of view of a White person because we are trying to make Whiteness and its effects visible rather than always studying Indigenous people

However, non-White people can also choose statements they feel strongly about

Statement exercise

White Racial Identity Development

Janet Helms first called attention to the significance of White racial identity in 1984 basing her model on previous work from the 1960s and 1970s in the area of identity theory for non-white racial groups

Helms’ model has been revised several times since then and in its latest formulation consists of two broad phases and six individual stages

Phase 1: Abandonment of Racism

Contact Stage

In this stage an individual has only a superficial and inconsistent awareness of being White. S/he denies, is oblivious to, or avoids anxiety-evoking racial information and experiences

People in this stage accept the racial status quo of society as normal and taken for granted and think of themselves and others as raceless and colour-blind

Phase 1: Abandonment of Racism

Disintegration Stage

This stage is epitomised by feelings of disorientation, confusion and suppression of information due to racial moral dilemmas or experiences that highlight the racialised and racist nature of society

Phase 1: Abandonment of Racism

Reintegration Stage

In this stage information is interpreted in order to idealise what is White and denigrate that which is not White

This stage is characterised by the belief that White people are superior to non-White people and there is a denial of any responsibility for perpetrating racism or the existence of racism at all among individuals in this stage

Phase 2: Defining a Nonracist White Identity

Pseudo-independence

Racial experiences are interpreted to fit a ‘liberal’ societal framework in this stage

There is a view that overt racism is not acceptable but that non-White people are in fact dysfunctional, culturally deprived and inferior through no fault of their own and they should be helped to be more like Whites

White people in this stage recognise that racism exists but feel no personal responsibility for it

Phase 2: Defining a Nonracist White Identity

Immersion/Emersion

In this stage a person has an outlook where s/he tries to understand the ways in which they contribute to, and benefit from White privilege

This stage is a process of re-educating oneself and other Whites whilst searching for an internally-defined positive racial identity as a White person

Phase 2: Defining a Nonracist White Identity

Autonomy

This stage is characterised by active involvement in social change and a realisation of the benefits one has been entitled to due to Whiteness. In this final stage, people have an understanding of the complexity of oppression, have flexible responses to racial material and are in a continual process of striving towards non-racist standards

Although this schema suggests a linear

progression from contact through to autonomy, in practice people may skip certain stages and/or may move back and forth between different stages throughout their life

Also Helms notes that ‘most individuals develop more than one status, and if multiple statuses exist, then they can operate in concert…and blended stages describe people’s reactions more often than a ‘pure’ status

How does White identity affect research?

Consider a hypothetical project: ‘Exploring women’s experiences of childbirth at Royal Darwin Hospital.’

A cross-sectional survey is being done with sample of women who gave birth at RDH in order to determine how to design and

implement an intervention to improve service

Consider how this research might be conducted by researchers at each of the different White identity stages. Discuss: Which population groups will be included in the study? Will the study be conducted differently for various

participants? How would Indigenous people be employed, if at all, as part of

the research project and/or included in the dissemination of findings?

How will any inequalities identified be interpreted by the researchers?

What intervention, if any, would be recommended for Indigenous women?

Adapted from Helms (1993)

Identity Stage Assumption Implication

Contact Universalism of White culture

Data are not analysed separately by race/ethnicity. Results are assumed to pertain to people regardless of race.

Disintegration Ambivalence regarding study of race

Diversity research is permitted only if it conforms to standards of excellence of White research

Reintegration Ethnocentrism Whites are the standard for normal behaviour. A study is deficient unless Whites are used as the standard group against which to compare other groups.

Pseudo-independence Liberalism When racial-group differences are found, principles of cultural disadvantage are used to explain non-White situations, but Whites are not explained.

Immersion-emersion Re-education White culture and sociopolitical history is explicitly used to design studies and explain White’s behaviours

Autonomy Pluralism The inherent cultural assumptions of one’s work are recognised and an effort is made not to impose them on non-group members.

If the researcher is unable to examine the effects of her or his own racial development on her or his research activities, then the research risks contributing to the existing body of racially oppressive literature rather than offering illuminating scholarship. For White researchers, White identity theory postulates that an important step in the self-examination process is the development of the capacity to call oneself White and acknowledge the various sociopolitical as well as cultural implications of being a member of the White group (Helms 1993:242)

Example of the difference between two White identity stages

Pseudo-Independence Immersion/Emersion

Would Indigenous Australians benefit if

the they had better leaders?

Would White Australians better

understand their role in promoting

racism if this topic was discussed by

Australian leaders?

Would a Labour government do more to

help Indigenous Australians or would it

be much the same as the current

Coalition government?

Would a Labour government do more to

help Whites dismantle institutional

racism or would it be much the same as

the current Coalition government?

Because of past discrimination against

Indigenous, qualified Indigenous

Australians should receive preference

over equally qualified Whites in such

matters university entry or getting a job

We need to stop White Australians

receiving preference over equally

qualified Indigenous Australians simply

because they are White in such matters

as university entry or getting a job?

Is there enough legislation in place to

improve conditions for Indigenous

people in this country?

Is there enough legislation in place to

compel Whites in this country to treat

Aboriginal people fairly?

Black Racial Identity Development

Revised model consists of two broad phases and five individual stages:

Conformity, dissonance, immersion/emersion, internalisation and integrative awareness

Conformity (Pre-encounter)

Individual accepts dominant societal ideology/norms, wishes to assimilate, and distances themselves from other Blacks. Denial, minimisation and selective perception

People in this stage accept the racial status quo of society as normal and use victim-blaming and culture as ‘pathology’ explanations of Black ‘failure to succeed’

Dissonance (encounter)

This stage is epitomised by feelings of disorientation,

ambivalence, confusion and suppression of information

due to racial moral dilemmas or experiences that

highlight the racialised and racist nature of society

Immersion/Emersion

This stage is epitomised by a powerful desire to learn about and glorify Black culture/people. An essentialised, idealised and externally defined notion of Black identity is espoused

What is perceived to be White culture/people are denigrated, demonised and rejected and there is a hypersensitivity to racial stimuli

Internalisation

Controlled anger toward racist institutions, dedicated long-term commitment and a decline in anti-White feelings are attributes of this stage

A more balanced view and attitude toward ‘Blackness’ is also found during this stage and an internally defined notion of identity

Integrative Awareness

The individual becomes a social activist motivated by globally humanistic self-expression

There is a capacity to value one’s own collective identities as well as empathise and collaborate with members of other oppressed groups

The complexity of social worlds is recognised and flexible analyses and responses to racial stimuli are employed