What Are the White Kids Learning? (De)Constructing White Identities in a School with an Anti-Racist Agenda

Limited research has considered how school practices and narratives shape the construction of white identities. Using a critical qualitative approach, this article examines what white students (ages 12–14 years) learn about race and whiteness via the institutional narratives of a school with an anti-racist agenda. The analysis revealed that although the school's dominant racial narratives were race conscious in content (i.e., named racism and oppression), they largely did not work to disrupt the oppressive dynamics of white identity construction. In fact, we show how schools help produce particular kinds of white identities that serve the interests of white supremacy via the institutional narratives they endorse and socialize, even in educational settings committed to challenging racism. The article concludes by considering how efforts for racial justice in schooling are incomplete without deconstructing whiteness and white identity.