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Raven Sinclair (2004) locates the social worker at the heart of the colonial project, carrying out violent and assimilative government policy in Canada (p.50). Social work's connections to colonialism have been consciously and some would say “innocently” mutually dependent (Rossiter, 2001; Heron, 2007). Social work responses over time have been criticized for being non-performative (Ahmed, 2004), upholding institutional power (Bunjun, 2014) and ignoring ongoing colonialism (Lawrence & Dua, 2005). This study explores how self-identified white social work managers and directors reflect on and understand their roles in relation to reconciliation policy. It looks at the way discourse interrupts or maintains ruling relations including white supremacy and other colonial continuities (Heron, 2007). “In order to avoid further complicity, in assimilative and colonial practices, non-indigenous helpers must develop a clear understanding of their privilege and of their professions’ complicity in past and present colonial practices embedded in their practice”(Baskin, 2016). Through qualitative interviewing the study used critical whiteness studies and critical discourse analysis with the concept of relational validity in mind (Tuck & Yang, 2018). “What is valid in research is that which resonates with people’s lives and informs their power to make change” (Tuck & Yang, 2018, p.xiii). The findings suggest that participants orientation to reconciliation in the workplace, is controlled and continually reinforced through state discourses (neoliberal, neocolonial, reconciliation). Interestingly, the findings also suggest that participants may be de-contextualizing AOP discourses to neutralize and depoliticize their professional roles in the colonial project, as well as to rationalize their reluctance to take action. This suggests current approaches are not adequate to address colonial continuities in an era of reconciliation. / Thesis / Master of Social Work (MSW)

The ways in which white Americans understand the racial landscape and their own racial identities are not well understood. Through the lens of the racial past, in this study I investigate how memory operates within the white racial frame, the dominant white-centric worldview, to uphold systemic racism and to maintain whites’ collective and individual identities. Through a narrative analysis of original in-depth interviews conducted with 44 ordinary white southerners – lifetime residents of Greensboro, North Carolina – who lived through the legal segregation and civil rights eras, this research demonstrates the interviewees’ contemporary investment in positive notions of the white self and white society. The respondents' autobiographical narratives of life during legal segregation, a time of overt white supremacy, are typified by nostalgia for a childhood era of safety, security, and "good" race relations. Interviewees' narratives of the civil rights era, including nonviolent student sit-in protests for which Greensboro is known and school desegregation, have themes of disruption, danger, and white victimization. Overall, respondents portray Jim Crow segregation as a calm and peaceful time and the civil rights era as chaotic and harmful to whites, at the same time as they acknowledge, to a limited extent, the unfairness of Jim Crow's blatant racial inequalities. In this work I propose the concepts white victimology, white protectionism, and white moral identity. I argue that white victimology – whites' perception, largely imagined, of their own racial victimization – is a major ideological and emotional facet of the white racial frame, whereby whites dismiss the historical and contemporary reality of white racism. My analysis demonstrates that white victimology is a primary way in which whites assert themselves, individually and collectively, as racial innocents and "good" people. In this work I also conceptualize the dynamic of white protectionism, explanatory and rhetorical ways in which whites "rescue" white acquaintances and family members from potential accusations of racism. Ultimately, I argue that whites' investment in perpetuating white dominance and upholding the white racial frame occurs through white moral identity-making, myriad active and subtle ways that whites continue to construct themselves positively and construct people of color, especially black Americans, negatively.

As Richard Thomas writes, “there is nothing like Star Trek…Of all the universes of science fiction, the Star Trek universe is the most varied and extensive, and by all accounts the series is the most popular science fiction ever” (1). Ever growing (the latest Star Trek film will be released in Spring 2013) and embodied in hundreds of novels and slash fanfiction, decades of television and film, conventions, replicas, toys, and a complete Klingon language Star Trek is nothing short of a cultural phenomenon. As Harrison et al argue in Enterprise Zones: Critical Positions on Star Trek, the economic and cultural link embodied in the production of the Star Trek phenomena “more than anything else, perhaps, makes Star Trek a cultural production worth criticizing” (3). A utopian universe, Star Trek invites its audience to imagine a future of amicable human and alien life, often pictured without the ravages of racism, sexism, capitalism and poverty. However, beyond the pleasure of watching, I would ask what do the representations within Star Trek reveal about our popular culture? In essence, what are the values, meaning and beliefs about gender, race, sexuality and disability being communicated in the text? I will explore the ways that the Star Trek universe simultaneously encourages and discourages us from thinking about race, gender, sexuality and disability and their intersections. In other words, this work will examine the ways that representations of identity are challenged and reinforced by Star Trek: The Next Generation and Star Trek: Voyager. This work will situate Star Trek specifically within the science fiction genre and explore the importance of its utopian standpoint as a frame for representational politics. Following Inness, (1999), I argue that science fiction is particularly rich textual space to explore ideas of women and gender (104). As Sharona Ben-Tov suggests in The Artificial Paradise: Science Fiction and American Reality (1995) science fiction’s “position at a unique intersection of science and technology, mass media, popular culture, literature, and secular ritual” offers critical insight into social change (ctd. in Inness 104). I extend Inness and Ben-Tov here to assert that the ways in which science fiction’s rich and “synthetic language of metaphor” illustrate and re-envision contemporary gender roles also offers a re-imagination of assumptions regarding race, sexuality and disability (Inness 104). Extending current scholarship (Roberts 1999, Richards 1997, Gregory 2000, Bernardi 1998, Adare 2005, Greven 2009, Wagner and Lundeen 1998, Relke 2006, and Harrison et all 1996), I intend to break from traditions of dichotomous views of The Next Generation and Voyager as either essentially progressive or conservative. In this sense, I hope to complicate and question simplistic conclusions about Star Trek’s ideological centre. Moreover, as feminist media theorist Mia Consalvo notes, previous analyses of Star Trek have explored how the show constructs and comments on conceptions of gender and race as well as commenting on economic systems and political ideologies (2004). As such, my analysis intends to apply an intersectional approach as well as offer a ‘cripped’ (McRuer 2006) reading of Star Trek in order to provide a deeper understanding of how identities are represented both in science fiction and in popular culture. Both critical approaches – especially the emphasis on disability, sexuality and intersectional identities are largely ignored by past Trek readings. That is to say, while there is critical research on representations in Star Trek (Roberts 1999, Bernardi 1998) much of it is somewhat uni-dimensional in its analysis, focusing exclusively on gender or racialized representation and notably excluding dimensions of sexuality and ability. Moreover, as much of the writing on the Star Trek phenomena has focused on The Original Series (TOS) and The Next Generation this work will bring the same critical analysis to the Voyager series. To perform this research a feminist discourse analysis will be employed. While all seven seasons and 178 episodes of The Next Generation series as well as all seven seasons and 172 episodes of Voyager have been viewed particular episodes will be selected for their illustrative value.

As Richard Thomas writes, “there is nothing like Star Trek…Of all the universes of science fiction, the Star Trek universe is the most varied and extensive, and by all accounts the series is the most popular science fiction ever” (1). Ever growing (the latest Star Trek film will be released in Spring 2013) and embodied in hundreds of novels and slash fanfiction, decades of television and film, conventions, replicas, toys, and a complete Klingon language Star Trek is nothing short of a cultural phenomenon. As Harrison et al argue in Enterprise Zones: Critical Positions on Star Trek, the economic and cultural link embodied in the production of the Star Trek phenomena “more than anything else, perhaps, makes Star Trek a cultural production worth criticizing” (3). A utopian universe, Star Trek invites its audience to imagine a future of amicable human and alien life, often pictured without the ravages of racism, sexism, capitalism and poverty. However, beyond the pleasure of watching, I would ask what do the representations within Star Trek reveal about our popular culture? In essence, what are the values, meaning and beliefs about gender, race, sexuality and disability being communicated in the text? I will explore the ways that the Star Trek universe simultaneously encourages and discourages us from thinking about race, gender, sexuality and disability and their intersections. In other words, this work will examine the ways that representations of identity are challenged and reinforced by Star Trek: The Next Generation and Star Trek: Voyager. This work will situate Star Trek specifically within the science fiction genre and explore the importance of its utopian standpoint as a frame for representational politics. Following Inness, (1999), I argue that science fiction is particularly rich textual space to explore ideas of women and gender (104). As Sharona Ben-Tov suggests in The Artificial Paradise: Science Fiction and American Reality (1995) science fiction’s “position at a unique intersection of science and technology, mass media, popular culture, literature, and secular ritual” offers critical insight into social change (ctd. in Inness 104). I extend Inness and Ben-Tov here to assert that the ways in which science fiction’s rich and “synthetic language of metaphor” illustrate and re-envision contemporary gender roles also offers a re-imagination of assumptions regarding race, sexuality and disability (Inness 104). Extending current scholarship (Roberts 1999, Richards 1997, Gregory 2000, Bernardi 1998, Adare 2005, Greven 2009, Wagner and Lundeen 1998, Relke 2006, and Harrison et all 1996), I intend to break from traditions of dichotomous views of The Next Generation and Voyager as either essentially progressive or conservative. In this sense, I hope to complicate and question simplistic conclusions about Star Trek’s ideological centre. Moreover, as feminist media theorist Mia Consalvo notes, previous analyses of Star Trek have explored how the show constructs and comments on conceptions of gender and race as well as commenting on economic systems and political ideologies (2004). As such, my analysis intends to apply an intersectional approach as well as offer a ‘cripped’ (McRuer 2006) reading of Star Trek in order to provide a deeper understanding of how identities are represented both in science fiction and in popular culture. Both critical approaches – especially the emphasis on disability, sexuality and intersectional identities are largely ignored by past Trek readings. That is to say, while there is critical research on representations in Star Trek (Roberts 1999, Bernardi 1998) much of it is somewhat uni-dimensional in its analysis, focusing exclusively on gender or racialized representation and notably excluding dimensions of sexuality and ability. Moreover, as much of the writing on the Star Trek phenomena has focused on The Original Series (TOS) and The Next Generation this work will bring the same critical analysis to the Voyager series. To perform this research a feminist discourse analysis will be employed. While all seven seasons and 178 episodes of The Next Generation series as well as all seven seasons and 172 episodes of Voyager have been viewed particular episodes will be selected for their illustrative value.

Four fatal shootings, during police interactions, of unarmed people-of-color occurred in the Portland, Oregon Metro Area from 2003 to 2010 calling into question from members of the community whether or not the officers involved and hence their representative police departments had been racially profiling. Of interest in this study is whether or not cutting edge anti-racial profiling police officer trainings have an impact on how officers in Oregon perceive members of racial minority groups. A review of literature found that previous inquiries into racial prejudice among police officers may be present and that previous efforts to address racial ethics in law enforcement have had mixed results on officer perceptions of race. Using Whiteness Theory an examination was undertaken in Oregon utilizing a mixed methodological approach to answer three questions; 1) Do police officers report their perceptions of people-of-color being impacted as a result of participating in a racial profiling training seminar?, 2) Do police officers from the state of Oregon express having held a perception of members of the racial / ethnic community as individuals prior to attending a racial profiling training?, and 3) Do police officers from the state of Oregon report having held a stereotyped perception of racial / ethnic community members before attending a racial profiling training? Findings include that some officers may be racially prejudiced and others not, but that the training, according to those participating was not impactful upon their personal perceptions of people-of-color for reasons that they saw none or little personal bias within themselves although the seminar they attended brought police - race issues back into their conscious awareness. Despite the training being well-received by all the participants they suggested the training title and description may have dissuaded other officers from attending who may have benefited from its content and format. Transferability of the data's findings is weak due to a small sample size and other limitations of the study discussed. Nevertheless, conclusions about the effectiveness of the racial-profiling-training-under-review's ability to impact these officers' perceptions and attitudes of people-of-color are made and recommendations for police and social policy as well as suggestions for future research are discussed.

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No description available.

This thesis provides a complex understanding of the phenomenological experience of whiteness as a racial category. Based on theories of critical whiteness studies, intersectionality and (white) phenomenology, I conducted five semi-structured interviews with five white women about their understandings of their whiteness within a context of transnational travel. The interviews have been interpreted using thematic analysis, with the aim to show that whiteness is inherently relational and contextual, always in conjunction with Others and in interplay with the spatial context, while at the same time intrinsically related to other intersectional parts of the self. By making use of autoethnography as a methodology, my situated knowledge as a researcher was integrated within the entire thesis. The study has shown that whiteness never stands alone but is inherently relational, not only with racialized Others, but also with other intersections such as womanhood, which complexifies the experience and understanding of it. Moreover, whiteness is perceived as the most normalized standard from which everything different and other is measured by, while it serves as an invisible social category that can move through the world unnoticed. Consequently, the normality of whiteness creates a feeling of reassurance and comfort and thus keeps it in its place as the most normalized social category from which the world unfolds.