2018 O. L. Davis Outstanding Book of the Year
To purchase a copy of White Fatigue, click here.
White Fatigue: Rethinking Resistance for Social Justice explores how, despite the pleas and research of critical scholars, what passes for multicultural education in schools is often promotion of human relations and tolerance rather than a sustained critical examination of how race and racism shape social, political, economic, and educational opportunities for various groups, both historically and currently. Simultaneously, our nation’s social mores have changed over time and millions of White Americans find racism morally reprehensible. This book illustrates that despite that shift, it is not uncommon to experience White Americans―in classrooms and other spaces―struggling to understand how racism functions. This struggle is often talked about as White resistance, White guilt, and White fragility. White fatigue is an idea that helps explain and differentiate this struggle for better understanding among White folks who feel racism is wrong but do not yet have an understanding of how racism functions. White Fatigue: Rethinking Resistance for Social Justice ultimately argues that if we are to advance our national conversation on race, educators must be willing to define reactions to conversations about race with more nuances, lest we alienate potential allies, accomplices, and leaders in the fight against racial injustice. (Amazon)
“The concept of white fatigue is an important contribution to creating a more nuanced understanding of the challenges of educating white students about racism. White Fatigue offers helpful context and pedagogical considerations for supporting the development of white allies for racial justice.”
“With this accessible and engaging work, Joseph E. Flynn, Jr. makes a critical contribution to social justice education. He offers insight into a recognizable exit point for many White teachers on the journey toward more racially-just teaching―fatigue―and considers how it might be addressed. This book will be invaluable to both current and future teachers and those who educate them”
“In direct and explicit language, Joseph E. Flynn, Jr. pulls no punches in his challenge to teacher educators to dig deep into the layers of white fatigue. Such accounts are critically necessary in a moment where some whites feel emboldened to act on deeply-seated racial hatred. Where such overt acts are considered the norm, Flynn brings us closer to the subtleties that are often ignored in the current social, political, economic, and educational moment.”