Unit 3: Confronting Systemic Anti-Black Racism in Canada
Week 9 – Day 1 – Let’s Talk About Blackface
Content Warning
The readings assigned for this week of our course may be traumatizing for Black students. The readings include discussion and examples of experiences of anti-Black racism within Canada’s healthcare system. Please prioritize your personal well-being as you read these materials.
Required Material
Howard, P. (2018). The Problem with Blackface. The Conversation. [link]
Howard, M. (2022). What Is Digital Blackface? Experts Explain Why the Social Media Practice Is Problematic. Women’s Health [link]
REFRAMING THE BELOW, SO IT’S MORE OF A CONTEXTUALIZING NARRATIVE (RATHER THAN SUMMARY)
Contemporary Blackface
Howard. (2018). On the back of blackness: contemporary Canadian blackface and the consumptive production of post-racialist, white Canadian subjects. Social Identities, 24(1), 87–103. https://doi.org/10.1080/13504630.2017.1281113
This article critiques the idea of Canada as a post-racial society in which race and racism are no longer issues that affect black Canadians. Howard calls attention to the ever-present instances of blackface that happen in Canada and how white Canadians try to justify this act of racism as anything other than such. This article discusses the history of minstrelsy in Canada and how blackface serves as a contemporary example of a blatantly racist act. Howard asserts that instances of blackface and the defence of it are forms of racial consumption that secure white Canadians. He goes on to explain that individuals who participate in and defend black face under the notion of post-racialism now hide under the guise of racial transcendence to justify their racism.
White Saviour Complex
Anderson, Knee, E., & Mowatt, R. (2021). Leisure and the “White-Savior Industrial Complex.” Journal of Leisure Research, 52(5), 531–550. https://doi.org/10.1080/00222216.2020.1853490
This article frames its discussion on the white saviour complex and white saviour industrial complex based on a series of tweets by author Teju Cole. Cole articulates the white saviour complex to satisfy the sentimental needs of white people. Cole states that white people engage with disadvantaged groups in this way not to invoke genuine change but as a feel-good experience for themselves. The authors build from this idea of the white saviour complex as an attempt to intervene in ”alleviating” the suffering of Black communities nationally and internationally. They assert that this form of work is done without a full analysis of the role that white people and how institutional racism has disadvantaged these communities by design. The work that white saviours often uptake do not address the systematic violence Black communities face. Nor do they aim at ending the oppression of Black people to achieve equity. They show the white saviour complex as a linear process in which white people produce/support a systematic problem, intervene in some capacity, and then receive praise for their intervention efforts.
Learning Activity
Discussion Reflection
Consider the following questions in preparation for our class discussion this week. Use the learning journal area of your portfolio to keep your elections in one place. This does not need to be released publicly, but can be if you’d like to treat it like a blog post.
- Think about this quote:
- “What did the white police officers hear as Garner called out for help? What didn’t they hear? What couldn’t they hear”
- How does the white gaze play a role in conversations about oppression between people of different races?
- In what way does the white saviour complex inhibit meaningful allyship in the fight to dismantle anti-Black racism?
Required Assessment
This week you are asked to complete your fourth ePortfolio Reflection assignment.
ePortfolio: The White Gaze and Media (6%)
We have considered how the institutions of education are implicated in upholding the status quo, reinforcing, and reproducing systemic white supremacy. This submission asks students to explore how contemporary images/imagery of Black people, reinforce and reinscribe the ‘white gaze’.
- Find an example of the white gaze in popular media (social media post, video, and TV/film). For examples, check out ‘The White Savior Trope, Explained” by The Take.
- Discuss how the white gaze is centred in your example. What do you think the implication of the white gaze is in this example might be?
- Reflect on the ways in which you can think critically about the media (articles, images, videos, and social media posts) that you consume, and the ways in which whiteness is centred.
Your submission must demonstrate your understanding of the ‘white gaze’ and bring awareness to any of the following questions:
- In what ways does structural racism make the white gaze invisible?
- In what ways is whiteness a powerful backdrop against which Black, Indigenous, and racialized people must ‘prove’ their experiences of systemic racism?
- Where and how does the white gaze dominate images, videos, and social media posts? In what ways is whiteness centered?
- In what ways are students encouraged to adhere to white-centered norms and standards in education?
- How can the white gaze be disrupted?
- Why is it important to recognize that the white gaze is not exclusive to white people?
- In what ways does examining the white gaze, help white people critically examine their whiteness?
Optional Resources
Adichie, C. N. (2009). The danger of a single story. TEDGlobal 2009. Available at: https://www.ted.com/talks/chimamanda_ngozi_adichie_the_danger_of_a_single_story?language=en
Channel 4. (2020). What’s Wrong with White Saviours? | How Not to Be Racist. Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VK5EQm-B5Q0
Ogorchukwu Iyamah, J. (2022). How Can Designers Build Interfaces That Avoid the “White Default?”
Raza, A. (October 2021). Whole class ‘shocked’ and ‘confused’ after teacher wears blackface to school, student says. CBC News. Available at: https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/tdsb-parkdale-blackface-petition-1.6232252
