Being the descendant of colonialists: white identity in context

In this paper I take as given that whiteness refers to a set of locations that are historically, socially, politically, and culturally produced, as I explore the question of ‘being white’ with a small group of young, well‐educated Australian women. Despite the fact that it has become almost axiomatic that as whites, we do not define ourselves by our skin colour and subsequently experience ourselves as non‐racialised, when I interviewed these women in 2000 and asked if they had ever thought about the fact that they were ‘white’, all reported that they had given the matter some thought. Key issues that emerged during these interviews related to issues of unearned privilege, guilt, fear and alienation. I conclude the paper by suggesting that becoming aware of our racial positionality is not quite enough and as a teacher educator I take up the implications of this for my professional praxis