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A Participatory Action Research Project to Deconstruct White Privilege Among Student Affairs Practitioners Jeffrey Edward Cullen Iowa State University

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A Participatory Action Research Project to Deconstruct White Privilege Among Student Affairs Practitioners Jeffrey Edward Cullen Iowa State University Iowa State University Capstones, Theses and Retrospective Theses and Dissertations Dissertations 2008 "Some friends and I started talking...": a participatory action research project to deconstruct white privilege among student affairs practitioners Jeffrey Edward Cullen Iowa State University Follow this and additional works at: https://lib.dr.iastate.edu/rtd Part of the Higher Education Commons, Race and Ethnicity Commons, and the Race, Ethnicity and Post-Colonial Studies Commons Recommended Citation Cullen, Jeffrey Edward, ""Some friends and I started talking...": a participatory action research project to deconstruct white privilege among student affairs practitioners" (2008). Retrospective Theses and Dissertations. 15832. https://lib.dr.iastate.edu/rtd/15832 This Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by the Iowa State University Capstones, Theses and Dissertations at Iowa State University Digital Repository. It has been accepted for inclusion in Retrospective Theses and Dissertations by an authorized administrator of Iowa State University Digital Repository. For more information, please contact [email protected]. “Some friends and I started talking…”—A participatory action research project to deconstruct white privilege among student affairs practitioners by Jeffrey Edward Cullen A dissertation submitted to the graduate faculty in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY Major: Education (Educational Leadership) Program of Study Committee: Nancy J. Evans, Major Professor Niki E. Davis Frankie S. Laanan Emily L. Moore Carlie C. Tartakov Iowa State University Ames, Iowa 2008 Copyright © Jeffrey Edward Cullen, 2008. All rights reserved. 3316188 Copyright 2008 by Cullen, Jeffrey Edward All rights reserved 3316188 2008 ii Dedication My fervent hope is that the next generation is more and better equipped to dismantle white supremacy, white privilege, and racism. Case (2004) noted that “[White people] have not been taught to take racism seriously as something we need to address. This lesson is most often communicated to us as children through the silence and inaction of white adults who remain passive in the face of injustice (p. 79).” With that said, I wish to dedicate this dissertation to my children: Mackenzie, age 7, and Nate, age 4. iii TABLE OF CONTENTS TABLE OF CONTENTS........................................................................................................................iii LIST OF TABLES ....................................................................................................................................vi ACKNOWLEDGMENTS .....................................................................................................................vii ABSTRACT.................................................................................................................................................x PROLOGUE...............................................................................................................................................1 CHAPTER 1. OVERVIEW OF THE STUDY....................................................................................3 Purpose of the Study..............................................................................................................................7 Research Questions................................................................................................................................7 Significance of the Study .......................................................................................................................7 Theoretical Perspective..........................................................................................................................8 Delimitations and Limitations ............................................................................................................10 Definition of Key Terms.....................................................................................................................11 Discussion of Key Terms....................................................................................................................13 Chapter Summary.................................................................................................................................13 CHAPTER 2. LITERATURE REVIEW.............................................................................................14 Defining White Racial Privilege..........................................................................................................14 Early Scholarly Research on White Privilege....................................................................................17 Post-McIntosh Scholarly Research on White Privilege ..................................................................19 Critiques of White Privilege Scholarship ..........................................................................................21 The Features and Processes of White Privilege...............................................................................22 Manifestations of White Racism in Interpersonal and Small-Group Anti-Racism Work .........25 The Efficacy of White:White Anti-Racism Training.......................................................................27 Characteristics of Effective Training Programs to Deconstruct White Privilege.......................28 Characteristics of Effective Trainers Working to Deconstruct White Privilege.........................33 Chapter Summary.................................................................................................................................34 CHAPTER 3. METHODOLOGY .......................................................................................................35 Action Research in the Service of Social Justice..............................................................................35 Philosophical Assumptions and Description of Action Research ................................................37 A Brief History of the Thinkers, Institutions, and Practices of Action Research ......................39 Critical Theory, Action Research, and Constructivism...................................................................41 Problems and Solutions Pertaining to the Use of PAR in a Dissertation....................................43 Research Design ...................................................................................................................................44 Data Collection Procedures ................................................................................................................48 Organization of the Narrative ............................................................................................................54 Establishing a Relationship with the Participants............................................................................55 iv Making Manifest the Ethical Concerns with Participant Portrayals. ............................................56 Data Management and Analysis Procedures ....................................................................................57 Strategies for Validating Findings ......................................................................................................59 Methodological Limitations ................................................................................................................61 Chapter Summary.................................................................................................................................62 CHAPTER 4. SITUATING THE PARTICIPANTS, RESEARCHER, AND RESEARCH SETTING..................................................................................................................................................63 Situating the Participants.....................................................................................................................63 Further Situating the Researcher........................................................................................................74 Demographic Overview of the Entire PAR Group Membership ................................................78 The Research Setting............................................................................................................................80 The Critical Reference Group of People of Color..........................................................................81 Chapter Summary.................................................................................................................................83 CHAPTER 5. DISCUSSION OF FINDINGS...................................................................................85 Significant Moments or Categories That Emerged During the First PAR Group Sessions.....85 Significant Moments or Categories That Emerged During the Middle PAR Group Sessions.93 Significant Moments or Categories That Emerged During the Final PAR Group Sessions .104 Interpretation of the White Privilege Attitude Scale Results ...................................................... 117 Chapter Summary.............................................................................................................................. 121 CHAPTER 6. CONCLUSION AND IMPLICATIONS............................................................... 123 Overview of the Study...................................................................................................................... 123 Main Findings Related
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