1. Transforming Positionality
Fall Focus, 2019
Gretchen Rudham
Amy Pucino

2. Defining Positionality
Positionality is the social and political context that creates your identity in terms of race, class, gender, sexuality, and ability status. Positionality also describes how your identity influences, and potentially biases, your understanding of and outlook on the world.

3. How does your positionality impact your teaching. Your work
How does your positionality impact your teaching? Your work? Your perspective on migration?

4. Community Book Connection

5. In what ways might Kate Evans’ positionality impact her work
In what ways might Kate Evans’ positionality impact her work? Her writing? Her perspective on migration?

6. Evans Uses Position to Draw Attention to the Crisis
Uses graphic art to show tragedy of war, criticize the “fascist anti-migrant government” (p. 11), call attention to police brutality (p. 12, 29, 31, 62, 117), call attention to poor conditions of camp (p. 14), to show problematic posts on social media (p. 23, 24). Describes her awareness of her own privilege white privilege on a refugee camp (p. 9-11)
Describes asking the question of whether or not her skills were useful to the community: “I wanted to know if art was needed here” (p. 34) Ultimately draws images of people at the Jungle (p , ).
Explains and critiques “misery tourism” (p.54-55)

7. Yet, simultaneously, are these important critiques of the refugee crisis used to elevate herself (p. 32, 72)? Is that problematic?

8. The White Savior Complex
The term white savior complex refers to a non-POC (white person) who acts to “help” POC, where the help is sometimes self-serving.
The “help” may have negative impacts on communities of color, elevating white people as the “saviors” and communities of color as needing “saving”.

9. White Savior Problematic Characteristics
Notion of white people with economic means perceiving that they’re “saving” people who are marginalized.
White saviors not acknowledging their own contribution to the problem but instead recognizing themselves as “good white people”.
White people’s desire to present as moral, good people at all costs.
Objectifying people of color to prove they are good white people.
Centering themselves and decentering communities they seek to “save”.

17. What Do We Do about It?
Do we nix a book that has elements of white savior?
How do we hold the reality that a text can do harm and good at the same time?
How to we acknowledge our own savior biases?
How might we work with students to uproot some of their own savior biases?

18. Sources
DiAngelo, R. (2016). What does it mean to be white? Developing white racial literacy. New York: Peter Lang.
Emdin, C. (2016). For White Folks Who Teach in the Hood…. And the Rest of Y’all Too: Reality Pedagogy and Urban Education. Boston, MA: Beacon Press.
Matias, C. (2016). Feeling white: Whiteness, emotionality, and education. Boston: Sense Publishers.
Sullivan, S. (2014). Good white people: The problem with middle-class anti racism. NY: Suny Press.
Sullivan, S. (2006). Revealing whiteness: The unconscious habits of racial privilege. Bloomington: Indiana University Press.