Article
Racial Arrested Development: A Critical Whiteness Analysis of the Campus Ecology
Journal of College Student Development
(2016)
Abstract
This paper analyzes the campus ecology (Renn, 2003, 2004) literature from the perspective of
Critical Whiteness specifically problematizing perceptions of safety and inclusion on the
college campus. Relying upon Sullivan’s (2006) ontological expansiveness, Mills’s (1997)
epistemology of ignorance, and Leonardo and Porter’s (2010) Fanonian interpretation of
racial safety, we argue that there is too high a premium placed on social comfort during
the undergraduate experience which actually leaves White students at predominantly White
institutions in perpetual states of racial arrested development. We conclude that intentional,
targeted racial dissonance is necessary for both White students to develop their racial selves while
concurrently being aware of the ugly realities of contemporary racism.
Keywords
- Whiteness,
- Campus Ecology
Disciplines
Publication Date
2016
Citation Information
Cabrera, N. L., Watson, J., & Franklin, J. D. (2016). Racial arrested development: A Critical Whiteness analysis of the campus ecology. Journal of College Student Development, 57(2), 119-134.