Setting the Seen: Whiteness as Unmarked Category in Psychologists’ Writings on Race in Australia

The present study offers a critique of white psychologists ’ writings on race relations in Australia. Particular attention is given to writings that focus on constructions of Indigenous peoples, and the interpretations given to such constructions by white individuals. Four dominant discursive repertoires may be identified within these writings: the construction of the binary categories of evil racists vs. good antiracists; the positioning of inter-group conflict as the outcome of cognitions that are based on naturally occurring differences; the construction of Indigenous peoples as always already subjugated; and the use of the term ‘modern racism ’ in exploring racist practices. By examining these repertoires the intention is not to demonise particular theories or individual academics, but rather to develop an understanding of the ways in which whiteness as an unspoken category limits the potential effectiveness of psychological understandings of racism. If racism is instead conceptualised as a network of processes founded upon white understandings of subjectivity and the world around us, then we may be better situated to develop alternate ways of understanding racism that view whiteness as a part of, rather than external to ‘diversity’