Local and federal governments, public school boards, and higher education institutions have been promoting online courses in their commitment to accommodating public needs, widening access to materials, sharing intellectual resources, and reducing costs. However, researchers of education needs to consider the often ignored yet important issue of equity since disregarding the issue of inequity in online education may create suboptimal consequences for students. This dissertation work, therefore, investigates the issues of social justice and equity in online education. I argue that equity is situated between the tensions of various social structures in a broader cultural context and can be thought of as a fair distribution of opportunities to participate. This understanding is built upon the idea that individuals have different values, goals, and interests; nevertheless, the online learning context may not provide fair opportunities for individuals to follow their own learning trajectories. Particularly, online learning environments can reproduce inequitable learning conditions when the context requires certain individuals to assimilate mainstream beliefs and values at the expense of their own identities. Since identifications have certain social and political consequences by enabling or constraining individuals’ access to educational resources, individuals may try to be identified in line with culturally-hegemonic perspectives in order to gain or secure their access to educational resources or to legitimize their learning experiences. In this interview study, I conceptualize online courses within their broader socio-historical context and analyze how macro-level social structures, namely the concept of whiteness, can reproduce inequity in micro-level online learning practices. By questioning who has control over the conditions for the production of knowledge, values, and identification, I investigate how socially accepted bodies of thoughts, beliefs, values, and feelings that give meaning to individuals’ daily-practices may create inequitable learning conditions in day-to-day online learning practices. In specific, I analyze how those who are identified as non-White experience “double-bind” with respect to stereotypification on one hand, anonymity on the other. Building on this analysis, I illustrate how those who are identified as non-White have to constantly negotiate their legitimacy and right to be in the online environment.

This study analyses how Stargate SG-1 perpetuates dominant representations of whiteness, and how whiteness is used as a marker of racial identity in American popular culture. The popular science fiction television show Stargate SG-1 continually uses the nonwhite alien to juxtapose the seeming superiority of the white human, with white Americans acting as trusted gatekeepers for the entire planet. Whiteness becomes almost invisible and normative as the alien “other” requires assistance or containment enacted through SG-1’s adventures “off-world”. I also examine the representation of superior white aliens as an extension of these dominant white discourses. It is through the study of the constructed nature of “race” that whiteness is made visible. As represented in Stargate SG-1 whiteness discourses contribute to and reflect “common sense” constructions of race within U.S. society. This examination of Stargate SG-1 illuminates how negotiations of whiteness are constructed within United States dominant cultural discourses as a means to exclude the “other”.

This thesis asks two central questions. First, what is the range of racialised discourses that constitute the subjectivities of some Pakeha ('white'/European) women? Second, can an examination of racialised discourses be useful for present social justice and antiracist pedagogy? The research examines and analyses a range of discourses of Whiteness that contribute to the constitution of contemporary Pakeha women as racialised subjects. Central to the thesis is an analysis of dominant discourses and the contemporary challenges that analyses of racism and aspects of identification present in Aotearoa/New Zealand. The study is qualitative and draws on insights from discourse analysis theory, critical Whiteness theory and feminist approaches to theories on racism and 'white' supremacy. The analysis is located in the historicised context of contemporary Aotearoa/New Zealand where a Treaty, Te Tiriti O Waitangi, which was signed by some hapu, the tangata whenua of Aotearoa, and representatives of the British Crown in 1840, underpins current socio-cultural politics of biculturalism. The thesis argues/contends that racialised discourses, in particular various discourses of Whiteness are available to contemporary Pakeha women. The analysis is grounded in both a preliminary focus group and individual interviews of 28 Pakeha women ranging in age from 24 to 86 years, the majority of whom were aged between 40 and 55 years. With few exceptions, participants revealed that they were constituted within discourses of Whiteness through their communication choices and discursive strategies in the interviews in two distinct ways: firstly in their perceptions expressed in their narratives and recollections, and secondly in the discursive forms used in participants' interactions during the focus group and interviews. These 28 women, some of whom had participated in antiracist education such as Treaty of Waitangi workshops, utilised discourses that exposed the pervasiveness and significance of racialised discourses as they attempted express how they learned to be 'white'. Participants maintained and reproduced discourses of Whiteness that had gendered and some class influences contained in their perceptions, talk and significantly in their silences. The analysis shows how remnants of essentialist ideologies of 'race' based in the nineteenth century imperialism are constantly reworked and are seemingly invisible to those constituted within these racialised discourses, apparently giving these outdated representations no chance to fade away. Based on the analysis, critical pedagogies of Whiteness in education that incorporate an epistemic approach are suggested, which have the potential to facilitate Pakeha women's ability to conceptualise their racialised discursive location. As an outcome of this understanding, the thesis maintains that Pakeha will have the capability to strategically reconceptualise their discursive constitution in order to address the complex forms of identity, understanding of difference and representation. Furthermore, these reconceptualisations have the potential to reveal the central relationship between dominant discursive formulations and social norms and structures, a vital constituent in contemporary social justice education.

The purpose of this essay is to analyze the media coverage of the case with Martin Schibbye and Johan Persson in the four biggest newspapers in Sweden in order to see how social constructions is created through the use of language. It is also of interest to see how nationality is represented in the material.  The theory is based on Edward Said’s theory of post colonialism and the prejudices that has developed from the western way of viewing ”The orient”. It is also based on Richard Dyers theory on whiteness and binary oppositions, which shows how ”whiteness” is viewed as the norm and is also never questioned. The method is critical linguistics and based on Norman Fairclough and Michael Halliday. The results from the method in critical linguistics shows how power is used in the media coverage of Martin Schibbye and Johan Persson. It shows how Schibbye and Persson are presented as human beings and as individuals and the other parts as foreign and unknown parts in the conflict.

This study explores the role of public relations in the formation of a collective identity of the activists of the Committee in Solidarity with the People of El Salvador (CISPES) between 1980 and 1990. CISPES was a radical U.S.-based organization comprised of a majority of white college-educated members. CISPES had two goals: 1) stop the U.S. military assistance to El Salvador, and 2) support the Salvadoran revolutionary movements that were fighting a U.S.-backed government. Through interviews, discourse analysis and historical research, this work shows that CISPES used as currency the whiteness of its activists, in conjunction with its educational background, to influence public opinion and policy-making in the U.S. The formation of CISPES as a white organization was partially achieved by continuous negotiations with Salvadoran radicals living in the U.S. Early in the 1990s, CISPES' collective identity as a white organization entered in crisis as internal debates on gender and race along with social changes in the national and international levels challenged dominant views and the status quo of whiteness and what this implies in political, social, and cultural spheres. This work proposes two models: the intersectional recruiting process and the ideological identity model of public relations. Both models were created using dialectical methodologies that understand public relations and social movements as processes of permanent contradictions between social conditions and ideology/discourse creation. This dissertation has real applications because it reveals how activist public relations can help the global struggle for social justice.

In this thesis, the biblical vision of egalitarian multiracial communities is compared to the present practices of Christian congregations in the United States. The thesis establishes that, while multiracial congregations bear the potential for racial reconciliation and equality, this potential may be thwarted by the unintended, counterproductive consequences of racial essentialism and white hegemony. Although I hypothesize that these results reflect the realities of multiracial congregations in general, the focus is on evangelical multiracial churches that are predominantly black and white. The thesis begins by exploring the arguments evangelicals have used to support and oppose racial hierarchy during nineteenth century U.S. slavery and the Civil Rights movement. Next, it traces theological beliefs used to advocate for multiracial congregations today. This is followed by an exploration of the development of multiracial congregations and how they can contribute to racial reconciliation, drawing heavily upon the national study completed by Michael O. Emerson in 2006. Despite the hope offered in the earlier chapters, I go on to present obstacles that blacks encounter in multiracial congregations. Following a description of the black church tradition, the thesis describes Gerardo Marti's research on how blacks can be utilized and essentialized in multiracial congregations in an effort to achieve diversity. Korie Edwards' study on multiracial congregations, which suggests that, under certain circumstances, potential for racial reconciliation and egalitarian relationships can be hindered by white hegemony, is also employed. This is followed by an examination of how the ideology of whiteness contributes to white hegemony and suggests white identity development as a tool to abate this inequality. Thereafter, formative influences on an individual's identity are explored and a case is made for how multiracial congregations can transform a person's racial identity. It is suggested that such a change bears the potential for racial reconciliation. The thesis concludes with implications for practice today and suggestions for future research. The objective of this thesis is to contribute to the actualization of a biblical vision within multiracial congregations by critically exploring the interactions between theological ideals and sociological realities.

The purpose of this dissertation project was to understand how institutions of higher education, through both punishments and rewards, ensure that dominant cultural codes are "taught" to students of color in ways that normalize whiteness ideologies. I wanted to understand racism in higher education through the lens of socialization to show the ways in which institutional members (un)intentionally conflate dominant cultural codes with the "correct" or "normal" way to think, act, or speak. Furthermore, I was interested in the ways that students of color take up, defer, resist, adapt, mix, subvert, and/or accommodate the institutional practices that (re)produce racial power within contemporary U.S. higher education. To pursue these goals, I focused on topics of racism, socialization through the white habitus, and civility utilizing critical-qualitative methodologies. I interviewed fourteen participants of various racial backgrounds a total of twenty-eight times to understand how they identified and negotiated the institutional norms of higher education. Specially, I utilized in-depth interviewing methods with narrative analysis and counterstory techniques to generate themes and present stories concerning my topics. My analysis of participants' responses generated insights related to my areas of study. First, I showed how racism manifests in a myriad of ways, including stereotypes and stereotype threats, microaggressions of invisibility, and overt forms of physical/mental violence. These themes indicate that racism still presents a significant threat to the health, well-being, and success of students of color within higher education. Second, I utilized Co-Cultural Theory to analyze participants' descriptions of higher education as a space that is dominated by the white habitus. That is, participants described specific communicative codes that constituted the practices of an idealized White identity within higher education and the ways they assimilated, accommodated, and separated from that identity. Third, I drew upon the notion of civility to understand the ways that its practice can function to perpetuate or subvert racism within higher education. Participants described appeals to covering ground and common courtesy as ways that conversations about race and racism are elided by dominant members in higher education thereby perpetuating whiteness. Additionally, I found that participants utilized purposive silence, niceness, and absurdity as ways to subvert the hegemonic dimensions of civility. Overall, my analysis points to the relationships among cultural, institutional, and individual rules and performances of race and racism. I concluded my dissertation by describing the major findings of the project and offering ways to combat racism in higher education. I offered that this dissertation can further whiteness studies by focusing attention on the cultural norms and practices that constitute the socializing mechanisms of higher education (or other institutions). This type of analysis is important because it does not rely upon essentialized racial identities (e.g., linking whiteness to White bodies); instead, it focuses attention on the institutional rules and norms that constitute yet transcend racial categories. I also drew upon Black Feminist Thought and Critical Communication Pedagogy to map out a dialogic ethic that serves as a foundation for communicating through inclusive civility to provide a guide for coalitional politics for social-justice work. I ended with the hope that such an ethic may provide a necessary step in the work to elicit institutional change and cultural renewal.

Low income and under-represented minority students face multiple kinds of barriers that limit their access to higher education. In the interest of increasing access to college, pre-college bridge programs exist throughout the United States to serve students from low socio-economic status families. This study examines teaching by women in the Advancement via Individual Determination (AVID) program. AVID is a middle school and high school intervention program that helps middle-achieving low income and under-represented minority students with college access. Critical Portraiture methodology is used to examine the ways that female AVID teachers teach students more than just academic skills that increase access to higher education: the framing of student success, the negotiation and justification of upholding the myth of meritocracy in the classroom, the internalization of parental roles with students, and the navigation of race. / 10000-01-01

O presente trabalho tem por objetivo investigar as concepções de professores da educação básica a respeito do que significa ser branco. Para sua efetivação foram analisados trabalhos teóricos sobre a questão racial, em especial aqueles dedicados ao estudo da branquitude, bem como realizei pesquisa empírica que englobou observação participante em curso sobre a temática racial destinado a docentes e entrevistas com professores de diferentes pertenças raciais. As análises evidenciaram que a condição de ser branco se relacionou a duas dimensões: uma corpórea, construída com base em características físicas que permitem a classificação de pessoas e grupos como brancos, e outra não material (simbólica). Esta última subdividiu-se em dois patamares: um idealizado, em que se verificavam associações arbitrárias entre ser branco e valores e outro relacionado às experiências vividas por pessoas brancas, fossem os docentes entrevistados, neste caso os autoclassificados brancos, fossem pessoas com as quais os docentes negros e brancos conviveram. O primeiro patamar foi denominado idealização branca e caracterizou-se pela construção do branco como grupo privilegiado e como ideal ético, estético, econômico e educacional a ser alcançado pelos sujeitos. O segundo patamar da brancura não só desmistificou a idealização branca por meio de descrições que sugeriam que as experiências de vida de pessoas brancas eram entrecortadas por eixos de subordinação diferentes do de raça, como a reforçou, já que certos relatos ratificaram alguns significados de ser branco, principalmente os relacionados à opressão racial e ao privilégio institucional concedido a brancos e citado por eles mesmos ou por docentes negros. / The aim of this study is to examine the meanings of being white to teachers of Basic Education in the city of São Paulo, State of São Paulo, Brazil. In order to accomplish it, theoretical studies concerning race, specially those on whiteness, were analysed and empirical study that included participant observation in a course about race adressed to teachers and interviews with racially diverse teachers were carried out. The analyses of the interviews showed that the condition of being white was related to two dimensions: a bodily one, which refers to physical features such as skin color and hair type, upon which individuals and groups are classified as whites, and a symbolic dimension. The latter revealed two levels of meaning. In the first level, called white idealization, whiteness was arbitrarily associated to generic values, while the second one included the senses of being white experienced by the teachers in their own lives. White idealization corresponded to a set of ideas about white people as a privileged group and an aesthetic, ethical, educational and economic ideal that people aim to achieve. This set of ideas either lost its force in descriptions that showed different subordination factors social class, gender and geographic origin superposing to whiteness or was reinforced by accounts in which whiteness was linked to racial oppression and white privilege.

Whitewashing entails the practice of whitening or altering an historical or fictional characters of colours with the casting of white actors. The lack of diversity in today’s media landscape highlight the importance of problematizing such representational practice usage and effects. This study therefore examines the discourses and meanings found in whitewashed characters from selected scenes in the films Dr Strange and Prince of Persia. The study used the theoretical approach of Richard Dyers “Whiteness”, Edwards Saids “Orientalism and Stuart Halls “Representation and Stereotype “to gain a diverse perspective on the practices of representation. The applied methodological approach of Fairclough Critical Discourse Analysis enabled hidden and unspoken messages to be brought forth and discussed accordingly to the theoretical frames. The study found that the “whitewashing” is an excursion of symbolic power in which it is used to ultimately maintain and produce whiteness as the norm.