Towards transformative critical whiteness pedagogies

In this conceptual article, the authors advance the idea of critical whiteness pedagogies by arguing that an improvisational ethos offers an alternative to whiteness and might inspire more nuanced anti-racist pedagogies with white people. This framework is born out of years of collaboration between the authors that resulted in an approach to pedagogy that invites white people to resist compulsions of whiteness. The authors assemble a foundation for a critical whiteness pedagogy by considering 1) whiteness as a white problem, 2) white supremacy, 3) whiteness, 4) improvisation as an alternative to whiteness, and 5) anti-racism for white people. Ultimately, the authors offer improvisational, anti-racist pedagogy to invite white people into better understanding the racial violence and silences that are part of their worlds. Offering white people an improvisational ethos as an alternative to whiteness might provide a space for them to resist white supremacy–to improvise.