Colluding, Colliding, and Contending with Norms of Whiteness

A volume in Urban Education Studies Series

Analyzing experiences of White mothers of daughters and sons of color

across the U. S., Chandler provides an insider’s view of the complex ways in

which Whiteness norms appear and operate. Through uncovering and analyzing Whiteness

norms occurring across motherhood stages, Chandler has developed a model of three common

ways of interacting with the norms of Whiteness: colluding, colliding, and contending. Chandler’s

results suggest that collisions with Whiteness norms are a necessary step to increasing one’s racial

literacy which is essential for effective contentions with norms of Whiteness. She proposes steps

for applying her model in education settings, which can also be applied in other organizational

contexts.