Hearing Whiteness, Seeing Race: Women Leaders Give Visibility to Their White Identity: a Dissertation Ann Moritz Lesley University
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Lesley University DigitalCommons@Lesley Educational Studies Dissertations Graduate School of Education (GSOE) 2006 Hearing Whiteness, Seeing Race: Women Leaders Give Visibility to their White Identity: A Dissertation Ann Moritz Lesley University Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.lesley.edu/education_dissertations Part of the Education Commons, Leadership Studies Commons, and the Race, Ethnicity and Post-Colonial Studies Commons Recommended Citation Moritz, Ann, "Hearing Whiteness, Seeing Race: Women Leaders Give Visibility to their White Identity: A Dissertation" (2006). Educational Studies Dissertations. 76. https://digitalcommons.lesley.edu/education_dissertations/76 This Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by the Graduate School of Education (GSOE) at DigitalCommons@Lesley. It has been accepted for inclusion in Educational Studies Dissertations by an authorized administrator of DigitalCommons@Lesley. For more information, please contact [email protected]. LUDCKE LIBRARY Lesley University 30 Mellen Street Cambridge. MA 02138-2790 Digitized by the Internet Archive in 2010 with funding from Lesley University, Sherrill Library http://www.archive.org/details/hearingwhitenessOOannm Hearing Whiteness, Seeing Race: Women leaders give visibility to their White identity A DISSERTATION submitted by Ann Moritz In partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy Lesley University October 2006 ©2006 Ann Moritz All Rights Reserved DEDICATION To my mother Jeanne, who sets such a loving example with her support and interest, even when I'm not very interesting. Her passion is her family - all six of us. She still shows us how to believe in ourselves. To my father Stan, who pushed me to go out and see more of the world he longed to see. Here's the latest. Dad. May the results of your encouragement help all of us see more clearly. 1 11 TABLE OF CONTENTS ACKNOWLEDGMENTS v ABSTRACT vi LIST OF TABLES AND FIGURES vii CHAPTER 1 : Introduction 2 Identifying the problem 2 Statement of the problem 4 Research question 6 My role as researcher 7 Purpose and goal of the study 8 Organization of the study 9 CHAPTER 2 : Literature Review 1 What's White got to do with it? An exploration of critical whiteness studies 13 Historical and chronological perspectives of whiteness studies 16 What does whiteness mean? 21 Bringing power and privilege into focus 25 An ideology and social construct 29 Multiple and changing meanings depending on context 30 A mix of identities 32 Race transparency or invisibility 35 Forgetfulness - or never knowing - both the present and the past 38 Challenges of dualistic thinking 39 The individual vs. collective approach to dealing with racism 42 Moving forward: Beyond identification to development 44 Summary and Reflection 49 White racial identity in theory; The Helms approach 52 Theory measurement tools: Explanation and analysis 59 Criticisms, limitations and questions 60 Importance of Helms' theory 62 Implications 64 White women leaders: A search for scholarly connection 66 Dualism 67 White without content 68 White racial identity as primary focus 69 Relevant perspectives on women and leadership 74 Conclusion 77 HI CHAPTER 3: Methodology 79 Overview 79 Why qualitative research? 81 Research sample and definition 85 Data gathering 87 Process and analysis 90 Assumptions inherent in this research design 94 Advantages and limitations of this methodology 96 Conclusion 98 1 00 CHAPTER 4 : Findings and Analysis The respondents 104 A sense of place 105 Harriet 107 Helen 109 Hilary HO Martha 112 Mary 113 Paula 115 Sandra 117 Shirley 118 Susan 120 Wallis 122 Yvonne 124 Zoe 126 Early memories of racial difference 129 Views of whiteness 133 Addressing whiteness: Separating out racial difference as one's own 134 Not seeing whiteness: Walking around the subject 136 Dismissing whiteness: Finding another reality 137 Polite avoidance: Changing the image 138 Implications of race in Black and White 139 Leadership and race 141 Linking whiteness to leadership traits 145 Deeper associations with White and leader 147 Leading on issues of race 1 52 A developing sense of whiteness and fiature behavior 155 Adult impact of childhood relationships across race 164 Applying the WRIAS model 168 Reflection and Conclusion 172 IV 1 CHAPTER 5 : Interpretation and Reflection 75 How the literature and my research intersect 1 79 Joining polite avoidance with other scholarly concepts 1 83 The WRIAS approach 1 84 Joining the domains: White, women and leader 185 CHAPTER 6: Conclusion and Future Direction 191 Meeting the resistance: Nourishing both dilemma and openness 194 From personal experience to the larger learning 197 Looking back at the design 200 What I learned 201 From the goal of this research to next steps 202 Appendix A: Example of the growth of scholarly writing in whiteness studies 207 Appendix B: White Racial Identity Attitude Scale (WRIAS) 208 Appendix C: Letter to members of candidate pool 211 Appendix D: Advance questionnaire to respondents 212 Appendix E: Interview protocol 213 Appendix F: White women leaders racial identity data gathering by subject 218 Appendix G: Plan of analysis 220 Appendix H: Racial identity of current neighbors and close friends of each respondent 221 Appendix I: Informed consent form for interview and WRIAS administration 223 References 224 Vita 237 ACKNOWLEDGMENTS For walking every mile of these doctoral work years, my leading acknowledgment goes to David Arnold, my husband, first reader, editor, companion, nudger, supporter and best friend. My children, Colin and Lindsay, marched through most of high school and college while I toiled in a similar venue. You all keep me feeling young and so hopeful. I would have no thesis without my cooperative respondents. While they have been promised anonymity, their earnestness and their candor must be made public. They have, indeed, made a difference. Bill Dandridge remained loyal as my senior advisor for the duration of this adventure through both my Doctoral Study Committee and Dissertation Committee phases. The members of those committees: Diane Goodman, Bard Hamlen, Lewis Rambo and Cheryl Smith. They all read, and read. I have learned immensely not only from their expertise, but in the example they set with their generosity of time and spirit. Caroline Heller, the Lesley doctoral issues group and Jo Ann Gammel provided every bit as much support as all of the coursework and inspiring faculty along the way. Cheryl Harris served as reader, colleague and sage. Frank Davis stepped in with a dedicated editor's eye. Stacy Blake-Beard never turned down a request for advice and wisdom. Lastly, to my friends, my extended family and community of faith. It takes a village. I have been blessed. VI ABSTRACT This study investigates what it means for women leaders to identify as White. The purpose is to examine a sense of racial identity and how that identity affects a sense of self as a leader. Twelve women answered questions from a designed interview protocol in two settings that occurred approximately four weeks apart. I also administered the White Racial Identity Attitude Scale of Helms et al. This study suggests two general findings. Women leaders who successfully recalled the details of positive early childhood relationships with children of color demonstrated a distinct ability to both address their whiteness and retain and use their sense of initiative and leadership skills across race. These women showed a higher level of appreciation across race, recalled situations of feeling White more fi-equently and comfortably, addressed their whiteness and explored situations of themselves as members of a race. These women compared significantly with others who recalled only situations involving race as a young child, and not positive individual relationships. Secondly, White women leaders experienced difficulty in addressing issues of their whiteness. When dealing with issues of race, they tended to set aside numerous leadership characteristics they had defined for themselves. The meaning of leadership for all respondents was disrupted or disturbed at times when their race became a consideration. In some cases, leadership traits they had described about themselves changed in meaning when issues of race were involved. Examples of those characteristics and traits included courage, intuition, opportunity, access, delivering, followup, conscientiousness, and involvement. When the women were asked what gets in their way of efforts involving issues of race, most cited their insufficient leadership ability. Some of the same language used to describe their leadership strengths early in the study was absent from their repertoire, or appeared as traits they felt they needed to develop. Vll LIST OF TABLES Table 3.1. Components of the sessions of data gathering process Table 4.1. Summary of characteristics of each respondent Table 4.2. How first memories of racial difference fell into two distinct categories Table 4.3. Terms chosen by respondents in talking about race Table 4. 4. A condensed look at what the women saw as good in their leadership Table 4.5. How women dealt with whiteness in their response to related questions LIST OF FIGURES Figure 4. 1. How the four major findings connect in this research Figure 4.2. Themes that arose in first memories about race Figure 4.3. WRIAS scores of respondents grouped in each of Helms' six status categories CHAPTER 1 Introduction Identifying the problem The late summer of 2005 found its place in history with the impact of devastating hurricanes in the Gulf Coast of the United States. The damage caused mostly by Hurricane Katrina churned up issues that did not ebb with the storm surges. Weeks full of daily news coverage revealed and reinforced images of evacuees and the newly homeless who had the least access to resources, and the least control over their lives. Cars, contacts and cash seemed to be the tickets to escaping this storm's wrath, and the public began to see who was least likely to have those tickets.