Multidimensional Identities And Meaning-Making Structures Of White Faculty And Staff As Critical Social Justice Practitioners

The purpose of this study was to gain an understanding of how white faculty and staff thought about and acted upon social justice issues in US higher education. White faculty and staff are assumed to be prepared to educate students about social justice issues. However, even the most self-aware white individuals operate within the historic, systematically oppressive structures of higher education. Research questions considered how participants valued practicing critical social justice, how they understood their social identities, and how they responded to tension narratives. Through a combined framework of constructivism and critical whiteness studies, this narrative study included interviews with nine white participants who were identified by campus diversity staff as initiating positive efforts in advocating for social justice. Findings focused on the motivations of participants, possible development topics for white faculty and staff, concepts for understanding resistance narratives experienced by white faculty and staff, and coping strategies.