University of New Mexico UNM Digital Repository Language, Literacy, and Sociocultural Studies ETDs Education ETDs Summer 7-15-2020 On Love and Treason: Critical White Feminist Thought for Social Justice Praxis Amanda Joyce Parker University of New Mexico - Main Campus Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalrepository.unm.edu/educ_llss_etds Part of the Bilingual, Multilingual, and Multicultural Education Commons, and the Social and Philosophical Foundations of Education Commons Recommended Citation Parker, Amanda Joyce. "On Love and Treason: Critical White Feminist Thought for Social Justice Praxis." (2020). https://digitalrepository.unm.edu/educ_llss_etds/124 This Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by the Education ETDs at UNM Digital Repository. It has been accepted for inclusion in Language, Literacy, and Sociocultural Studies ETDs by an authorized administrator of UNM Digital Repository. 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CRITICAL WHITE FEMINIST THOUGHT Amanda Parker Candidate Language, Literacy, and Sociocultural Studies Department This dissertation is approved, and it is acceptable in quality and form for publication: Approved by the Dissertation Committee: Richard Meyer, Co-Chairperson Nancy López, Co-Chairperson Mary Rice Rebecca Sanchez i CRITICAL WHITE FEMINIST THOUGHT ON LOVE AND TREASON: CRITICAL WHITE FEMINIST THOUGHT FOR SOCIAL JUSTICE PRAXIS BY AMANDA PARKER B.A., History, University of New Mexico, 1998 M.A., Educational Thought and Sociocultural Studies, University of New Mexico, 2012 DISSERTATION Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy Language, Literacy, and Sociocultural Studies The University of New Mexico Albuquerque, NM July, 2020 ii CRITICAL WHITE FEMINIST THOUGHT On Love and Treason: Critical White Feminist Thought for Social Justice Praxis Amanda Parker B.A. History, University of New Mexico M.A. Educational Thought and Sociocultural Studies, University of New Mexico PhD Language, Literacy, and Sociocultural Studies, University of New Mexico Abstract This dissertation is a theoretical piece that examines the positionality of white women in upholding white supremacy and a framework for critical white feminist thought that will move white women toward a self-reflexive and self-implicating praxis. A white matriarchy (Parker, 2018) is fully conceptualized as part of a powerful subsystem that operates under white supremacy. Concepts, such as a race-gender bribe and white women’s negative solidarity (Combahee River Collective, 1977), are exposed and discussed as part of the workings of white matriarchy. White emotionality (Matias, 2015), intergenerational whiteness, and antiracist parenting are also analyzed. I also suggest possibilities for resistance and forging a path out of whiteness for critical white women. iii CRITICAL WHITE FEMINIST THOUGHT Acknowledgments There are so many people that I need to thank who have supported me through the process of attaining a doctorate. I began my doctoral studies in the midst of a divorce when my daughters were two and five. Without a community of friends, professors, and academic family who would not let me quit, I would have given up a long time ago. With life’s many ups and downs, I have always been lucky to be surrounded by incredible women and there are far too many to name here, but I would like to acknowledge some of the them who have been steady in my life. I would like to thank Ellen Morrissey for being with me through it all, always holding truth and clarity for me even when I could not see things for myself. I would like to thank Jenifer Ford for teaching me the meaning of loyalty and resilience through the multiple phases of rebuilding my life. I would like to thank Erin Chavez for always pushing me to keep going and providing me and my girls with courage, love, and support, and sharing in the struggle of single motherhood with me. I would like to acknowledge Dr. Naomi Nishi’s incredible contribution to my growth as a scholar, mother, and fellow white woman who examines whiteness. Going to conferences, presenting together, and spending countless hours in dialogue has kept me grounded and given me confidence in academic spaces. I would like to thank my committee for supporting me and my work. Dr. Nancy López has offered many hours of mentorship, listening, and feedback through this process and the project would not have taken shape without her help in guiding my vision. I will be forever grateful for how she got me to this point. I would like to thank Dr. Rick Meyer for always believing that I have had something to contribute and supporting me through this writing process. I would like to thank Dr. Rebecca Sánchez iv CRITICAL WHITE FEMINIST THOUGHT for everything she has done for me as mentor and for all of the academic support she has given me over the years. I would also like to thank Dr. Mary Rice for stepping in toward the end with a willingness to help and sharing her time and her wisdom to get me to the finish line. Finally, I would like to thank Dr. Ruth Trinadad Galván who is no longer with us, but is present in the lives of so many of the professors and students she worked with. I would also like to thank my daughters, Juliet and Anastasia. I have dragged these two girls through the deadlines and the stress of graduate school, but we have always focused on the love and joy we have with each other. They are truly the greatest gift I have ever received. I am honored to be their mother and so proud of the conscious and compassionate people they have become. I also thank my parents, Dann and Martha Parker. They may not have always understood why I had to do this, but they have supported me anyway. I know they see the urgency of this work now and I hope we can continue to fight for justice as a family. v CRITICAL WHITE FEMINIST THOUGHT Table of Figures Figure 1. White Women’s Positionality and Resistance…………………………………25 Table of Contents CHAPTER 1: CRITICAL INTERSECTIONAL RACE THEORY FOR WHITE WOMEN .............................................................................................................................1 INTRODUCTION TO THE PROJECT, APPROACH, AND THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK ..............1 RACE, ETHNICITY, AND OTHER TERMS .............................................................................2 MY RACIAL GEOGRAPHY AND POSITIONALITY .................................................................4 Racism as a White Problem .......................................................................................12 STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM ........................................................................................15 White Women’s Resistance Discourse .......................................................................19 Testimonial Smothering and White Feminism ...........................................................20 OVERVIEW OF WHITE WOMEN’S RESISTANCE AND COMPLIANCE ..................................24 Complicit White Matriarchy ......................................................................................25 White Feminism (Matriarchal Feminism) .................................................................28 Antiracist Patriarchy .................................................................................................29 Critical Intersectional White Feminism for Liberation .............................................32 OUTLINE OF THE DISSERTATION .....................................................................................33 CHAPTER 2: THE WHITE MATRIARCHY ..............................................................34 INTRODUCTION ...............................................................................................................34 THE MAKINGS OF A WHITE MATRIARCH ........................................................................34 vi CRITICAL WHITE FEMINIST THOUGHT WHY WHITE MATRIARCHY? ...........................................................................................39 The Myth of Black Matriarchy ...................................................................................41 Intersectionality and Matrix of Domination ..............................................................44 Flexible Solidarity and Negative Solidarity ...............................................................47 THE RACIAL BRIBE .........................................................................................................49 Race as a Social Construction ...................................................................................49 The Racial Bribe ........................................................................................................50 White Women’s Race-Gender Bribe ..........................................................................51 BUILDING WHITE MATRIARCHAL POWER .......................................................................56 White Women’s Social Construction as Benevolent ..................................................57 Women’s Suffrage ......................................................................................................59 Reproductive Rights ...................................................................................................62 WHITE WOMEN AND THE DISCOURSE OF PROTECTION: CRIMINALIZING BLACK MEN, IGNORING WOMEN OF COLOR .........................................................................................64 WHITE MATRIARCHY IN EDUCATION