How Do White College Students Perceive the Role of a White Ally? Exploring White Allyship Development in Midwestern White College Students

Abstract

White college students have become increasingly interested in being antiracist White allies, raising questions about how to cultivate effective White allyship development. The extant theoretical literature proposes that White allyship development entails a process of increasing critical reflection on racism and consistent engagement in White allyship behaviors (Spaneriman & Smith, 2017; Heberle et al., 2020). What is less clear is how White college students conceptualize White allyship behavior and which factors support their White allyship development. My research addressed this gap in the literature by using sequential methodological triangulation across two studies. In Study 1, I interviewed 23 White college students and used thematic analysis to learn how they conceptualized and attempted to engage in White allyship behaviors. Then, building on Study 1’s findings, Study 2 distributed an online survey to 563 White college students (comprised of 199 recently graduated college seniors and 364 first-semester freshmen) to quantitatively test key patterns observed in Study 1. Both studies found that White students conceptualized allyship behavior in a variety of ways, but how White students understood allyship behavior was largely determined by their level of critical reflection on racism. Color-evasion color-blindness, the belief that racial differences should be ignored (Frankenberg, 1993), served as the primary framework for understanding race within students with low critical reflection on racism, and produced a limited understanding of allyship and low engagement in allyship behaviors. Findings further suggested that color-evasion color-blindness may even encourage inaction by limiting allyship to only transitional interpersonal behaviors, such as “helping” People of Color and friendship with People of Color. Both studies also revealed strong evidence that White allyship development follows a predictable process of growing critical reflection on racism alongside engagement in White allyship behaviors. This finding is significant because neither the Critical Consciousness nor the Critical Whiteness Studies literature has empirically tested White allyship development in this way (e.g., Jemal, 2017; Leonardo, 2013). Nonetheless, the process of White allyship development was shown to be distinct from racial consciousness development among Students of Color in that it could be absent, slower, and/or an inconsistent process due to the pervasiveness of color-blindness and the ability for White students to view themselves as “normal” and/or without a racial identity. Finally, both studies confirmed the importance of the college experience, and especially participation in race curricula, on White allyship development. White students may experience major expansion in their White allyship development in college because college can serve as a comprehensive, long-term racial (re)socialization experience in which students have multiple informal and formal opportunities to meaningfully engage with race. My findings call for holding institutions of higher education accountable for either fostering or neglecting White allyship development within their White students. Altogether, my research provided strong qualitative and quantitative evidence for the importance of the college experience on White allyship development, while also revealing the hindering and counter-intuitive effects of color-evasion color-blindness.