White Fragility | Robin DiAngelo

(Why it's so hard for white people to talk about racism)

Résumé : 

The New York Times best-selling book exploring the counterproductive reactions white people have when their assumptions about race are challenged, and how these reactions maintain racial inequality.

Referring to the defensive moves that white people make when challenged racially, white fragility is characterized by emotions such as anger, fear, and guilt and by behaviors including argumentation and silence. These behaviors, in turn, function to reinstate white racial equilibrium and prevent any meaningful cross-racial dialogue. In this in-depth exploration, anti-racist educator Robin DiAngelo examines how white fragility develops, how it protects racial inequality, and what can be done to engage more constructively. 

Voici une traduction personnelle du résumé ci-dessus :

TRADUCTION A VENIR

Extrait : 

WE DON'T SEE OURSELVES IN RACIAL TERMS

I am a white American raised in the United States. I have a white frame of reference and a white worldview, and I move through the world with a white experience. My experience is not a universal human experience. It is a particularly white experience in a society in which race matters profoundly; a society that is deeply separate and unequal by race. However, like most white people raised in the US, I was not taught to see myself in racial terms ans certainly not to draw attention to my race or to behave as if it mattered in any way. Of course, I was made aware that somebody's race mattered, and if race was discusses, it would be theirs, not mine. Yet a critical component of cross-racial skill building is the ability to sit with the discomfort of being seen racially, of having to proceed as if our race matters (which it does). Being seen racially is a common trigger of white fragility, and thus, to build our stamina, white people must face the first challence: naming our race.

OUR OPINIONS ARE UNINFORMED

I have never met a white person without an opinion on racism. It's not really possible to grow up in the United Staates or spend any significan time here - or any other culture with a history of Western colonization - without developing opinions on racism. And white people's opinions on racism tend to be strong. Yet race relations are profoundly complex. We must be willing to consider that unless we have devoted intentional and ongoing study, our opinions are necessarily uninformed, even ignorant. How can I say that if you are white, your opinions on racism are most likely ignorant, when I don't even know you? I can say so because nothing in mainstream US culture gives us the information we need to have the nuanced understanding of arguably the most complex and enduring social dynamic of the last several hundrd years.

Voici une traduction personnelle de l'extrait ci-dessus :

TRADUCTION A VENIR 

Extrait du chapitre 1 : The challenges of talking to white people about racism

Mon avis : 

AVIS A VENIR

Ma note :

16/20

Infos complémentaires :

Genre : Essai

Editions : Beacon Press
Date de parution : 2018

Nombre de pages : 169

Une version française existe aux éditions Les arènes, traduite par Bérengère Viennot sous le titre Fragilité Blanche (2020)