Being White, Being Good

By rigorously mapping the intricacies of white complicity vis-a-vis systemic racism, inspired by robust social justice concerns, and using white complicity pedagogy as her point of methodological embarkation, Barbara Applebaum, in Being White, Being Good, has profoundly troubled the waters of whiteness studies, identified its intrinsic limits, and forced a deeper and more honest self-reflexive posture on the part of its white practitioners to be cognizant (even as this is always already limited) of white moral self-glorification, white 'good intentions' and white self-cognitive sophistication-all forms of distancing strategies. Applebaum does all of this while simultaneously not shying away from offering a form of ethical responsibility that is fueled precisely through the recognition of the social ontology and ineluctability of racist complicity. This is racial theory and critical pedagogy born of fearless speech and fearless listening. -- George Yancy, professor of philosophy, Emory University
Applebaum has put together an impressive array of theoretical resources in this meticulously argued account of white complicity and its attendant pedagogical challenges. She intricately weaves together her analysis of poststructural subjectivity and agency with philosophical discussions of complicity to articulate a new form of moral responsibility no longer reliant on blame but robustly concerned with responsibility. -- Cris Mayo, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Applebaum's argument is ultimately a cautionary one, providing no doubt an important corrective to white social justice advocates who think they can somehow bracket or, even worse, move beyond their privilege. Applebaum makes this point extremely well. She also details a very thoughtful model for responsibility under complicity that offers some important broad guidelines for how we ought to think differently about our privilege, and about how we ought to teach about diversity issues. * Journal of Philosophy of Education *