Dr. Robin DiAngelo is a lecturer at the University of Washington, and is actively engaged in ant-racism work within and outside academic settings. She coined the term ‘White Fragility’ in an essay of the same name published in 2011. In this episode she and Eric talk about the turn of events that led Dr. DiAngelo to coin this term, what set of behaviors it describes, and what role those behaviors play in perpetuation white supremacy in the United States. They also talk about strategies for engaging with people exhibiting white fragility in an attempt to derail meaningful conversations about race and racism, how racial stereotypes differ for different racial groups in the United States, and how owning our racism is an act of liberation, among other things.

Links & Resources

• Support A Worldview Apart on Patreon
• Essays worth reading that were authored or co-authored by Dr. Robin DiAngelo (all links go to PDFs on her website)
  • White Fragility, published in the International Journal of Critical Pedagogy
  • Nothing to Add: The Role of White Silence in Racial Discussions, published in the Journal of Understanding and Dismantling Privilege
  • Getting Slammed: White Depictions of Cross-Racial Dialoges as Arenas of Violence, published in Race & Ethnicity in Education
  • Respect Differences? Challenging the Common Guidelines in Social Justice Education, published in Democracy in Education
  • Calling In: Ways of Speaking, Thinking, Seeing: Cultivating Humility, Curiosity, and Vision in Service of Anti-racist Practice, published in the Journal of Understanding and Dismantling Privilege
• Dr. Robin DiAngelo’s website