University of Massachusetts Amherst ScholarWorks@UMass Amherst Open Access Dissertations 9-2012 Understanding Internalized Oppression: A Theoretical Conceptualization of Internalized Subordination Teeomm K. Williams University of Massachusetts Amherst, [email protected] Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarworks.umass.edu/open_access_dissertations Part of the Education Commons Recommended Citation Williams, Teeomm K., "Understanding Internalized Oppression: A Theoretical Conceptualization of Internalized Subordination" (2012). Open Access Dissertations. 627. https://scholarworks.umass.edu/open_access_dissertations/627 This Open Access Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by ScholarWorks@UMass Amherst. It has been accepted for inclusion in Open Access Dissertations by an authorized administrator of ScholarWorks@UMass Amherst. For more information, please contact [email protected]. UNDERSTANDING INTERNALIZED OPPRESSION: A THEORETICAL CONCEPTUALIZATION OF INTERNALIZED SUBORDINATION A Dissertation Presented by TEEOMM K. WILLIAMS Submitted to the Graduate School of the University of Massachusetts Amherst in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of DOCTOR OF EDUCATION September 2012 Social Justice Education Program © Copyright by Teeomm K. Williams 2012 All Rights Reserved UNDERSTANDING INTERNALIZED OPPRESSION: A THEORETICAL CONCEPTUALIZATION OF INTERNALIZED SUBORDINATION A Dissertation Presented by TEEOMM K. WILLIAMS Approved as to style and content by: Barbara Love, Chair Maurianne Adams, Member Todd Crosset, Member Christine B. McCormick, Dean School of Education DEDICATION For the educators, activists, freedom fighters, and liberation workers who came before me. Your love, hard work, and sacrifice made this possible. It is upon your shoulders I stand, and I am humbled and grateful. For the educators, activists, freedom fighters, and liberation workers who come after me. May your efforts always be guided by unconditional love and a steadfast belief that the world can and will be a better place. ACKNOWLEDGMENTS This has been a spectacular and challenging journey. Who I am today is fundamentally different from the person I was when I started. I have many people to thank for that. Though I’ve done my best to acknowledge them here, no words can ever express the depth of my appreciation. To Mom, Cid, Shon, Chris, Uncle Kevin, and the crew: This dissertation is as much yours as it is mine. You’ve been with me every step of the way. Thank you for all of your love and support. Thank you for taking my late night calls. Thank you for forgiving me when I didn’t call. Thank you for encouraging me to continue when I wasn’t so sure I wanted to. I love you. To Barbara Love: My professor, my mentor, my friend. I truly do not have the words to express my gratitude. Your friendship, teaching, and mentorship have helped me to become a better, stronger, wiser man. I will always strive to uphold the brilliant and powerful example you’ve set. There is a reason your name is Love. Thank you. To Maurianne Adams: There were plenty of times that I really wanted to quit this process, both because of its length and its complexity. Your steady reassurance and willingness to take the time to calmly pick apart the issues I struggled with were not only invaluable but very much appreciated. And though I may have complained, I particularly appreciate the way you consistently pushed me to such a high level of excellence. I am ever grateful to have had your support and mentorship. Thank you. To Todd Crosset: I truly enjoyed our dialogues. I appreciate your thoughtful questions and your thoughtful responses to my questions. Your guidance, positive v reinforcement and humor were critical in helping me to complete this process. Thank you for your steadfast support. To Ximena Zuniga and Pat Griffin: Both of you have been instrumental in my development as a practitioner and scholar. Thank you for the all of the hard work you’ve done (and continue to do!) and for the gifts you’ve imparted. To Dr. Julius Thompson: You were the first scholar I’d ever known who could use big academic words and profanity in the same sentence and make them both sound equally brilliant. Our time together taught me the meaning of unwavering excellence. I miss your straightforward way of telling me to get my act together. Thank you for your humor, support, and guidance. To the many friends who have supported me along the way: Where would I be without you? Dissertations, though written by one person, are usually community endeavors. Your love and support has helped me to get through this process mostly sane and relatively intact. Though I do not have the space to thank all of you here, please know that I love you all dearly. And now that I’ll have more time on my hands, on to our next adventure! To the SJE family past and present: Thank you, thank you, thank you. You’ve been a part of my life for many years. I’m more amazed by all of you now than I was when I first started. Your collective wisdom, guidance, and willingness to challenge with patience and care have been transformational. I look forward to deepening our friendships and continuing our collective liberatory endeavors. Last, but certainly not least, to Linda Guthrie. Thank you for your friendship, support, encouragement, and assistance throughout the years. You’ve been an vi instrumental part of my success and the completion of this dissertation. I appreciate everything that you’ve done for me. And I promise I’ll have that ID number memorized sometime before graduation. vii ABSTRACT UNDERSTANDING INTERNALIZED OPPRESSION: A THEORETICAL CONCEPTUALIZATION OF INTERNALIZED SUBORDINATION SEPTEMBER 2012 TEEOMM K. WILLIAMS, B.A., SOUTHERN ILLINOIS UNIVERSITY M.A., GONZAGA UNIVERSITY M.Ed., UNIVERSITY OF MASSACHUSETTS AMHERST Ed.D., UNIVERSITY OF MASSACHUSETTS AMHERST Directed by: Professor Barbara J. Love Internalized oppression is one of the conceptual foundations of social justice education. Though the literature on internalized oppression is rich with descriptive data, little theory has been developed in this area. To date, the field of Social Justice Education has been limited by this oversight. Drawing upon the work of theorists who have examined this topic across a variety of social identities, this study presents a generalizable framework for understanding and analyzing internalized oppression. More specifically, this research focuses on the internalized oppression of subordinant groups, also known as internalized subordination. The framework presented within this study identifies internalized oppression as having three core components or “defining elements”: process, state, and action. It is intended to be used as a foundation and starting point for, rather than in lieu of, the examination of the internalized oppression specific to particular social identities. Further, this framework is intended to benefit both scholars and practitioners of social justice and will aide in the development of methodologies and pedagogies aimed at interrupting internalized oppression and promoting liberatory consciousness. viii TABLE OF CONTENTS Page ACKNOWLEDGMENTS ..............................................................................................v ABSTRACT ............................................................................................................... viii LIST OF TABLES ...................................................................................................... xii LIST OF FIGURES .................................................................................................... xiii CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION TO THE STUDY. .........................................................................1 Statement of the Problem ....................................................................................2 Purpose of the Study ...........................................................................................4 Clarifications and Delimitations ..........................................................................5 Design of the Study .............................................................................................7 Outline of Chapters .............................................................................................8 2 OVERVIEW OF OPPRESSION THEORY .............................................................. 17 Oppression and Social Identity .......................................................................... 17 Oppression as a System ..................................................................................... 21 Internalized Oppression within the Context of Oppression Theory .................... 25 Internalized Oppression: Individual and Group Level Phenomenon ................... 27 3 LITERATURE REVIEW ......................................................................................... 30 Internalized Oppression Defined ....................................................................... 32 4 INTERNALIZED OPPRESSION AS PROCESS...................................................... 40 Internalization ................................................................................................... 41 Socialization ..................................................................................................... 49 Intergenerational Transmission ......................................................................... 56 Acceptance ......................................................................................................