Do you SEE the words coming out of that text?: Seeing Whiteness in Digital Text
Keywords:
Digital text, media, critical race media literacy, whiteness, pedagogy,Abstract
Though texts are commonly perceived as merely written, this article explores texts in a more complex manner: in digital form. First, the paper posits the importance of “reading” digital texts (e.g., social media, films, memes, etc.) and demonstrates how such texts transmit hegemonic ideas about race and whiteness, which ultimately reifies white supremacy in society. Using a variety of critical theories such as critical studies of whiteness and critical theories of race, this article deconstructs digital texts (particularly film and social media) to demonstrate how whiteness gets embedded in digital text in almost invisible ways. Additionally, this article employs Yosso’s (2002) critical race media literacy (CRML) not only to divulge racial stereotypes in digital texts but also to demonstrate how CRML can be pedagogically and metacognitively applied to reveal how whiteness also gets embedded in digital texts. This article serves as a metacognitive model as to how readers can learn to read whiteness within digital texts.
Downloads
Published
How to Cite
Issue
Section
License
So that you as author and we as publisher may be protected from the consequences of unauthorized use of the contents of your work, we require, as a condition of publication, that you assign us all rights, including subsidiary rights, to your work. This will enable us to promote and distribute the contribution in professionally appropriate venues. You will have nonexclusive license to use your work without charge and without further permission, after it has been published by IJME, in any book you write or edit or your personal website. In such a case, you must acknowledge IJME as the site of original publication. Content is free for personal use. Persons who wish to reproduce any content from IJME that exceeds fair use guidelines must a) seek copyright from IJME (editor@ijmejournal.org); and b) acknowledge IJME as the site of original publication.
Sample acknowledgement: "Reprinted with permission from IJME. Original publication in International Journal of Multicultural Education [the URL of the article]"
Author Responsibilities: Authors are responsible for securing permission for excerpts, images, and data from copyrighted materials or materials in private collections.