In asking the questions “How are white families striving to create antiracist family cultures simultaneously resisting reifying white dominant culture, and how are white children making sense of their racial identities in those families?” I had the opportunity to deepen previously established relationships with three families asking similar questions. Our collective querying resulted in data collected using critical ethnographic methods rooted in culturally responsive methods including fieldwork, formal and informal conversations, and written narrative. Unique themes emerged from each family’s data, from which I drew three major theoretical conclusions: the importance of (1) Critical Consciousness (2) Antiracist Community, and (3) Unfinishedness. The data indicates the need for continued research regarding white children’s antiracist racial identity development in the social, familial, and schooling spheres, as well as the motivations that undergird white caregivers to attempt to act in antiracist ways. This study contributes to a current gap in the literature regarding the development of antiracist attitudes among white children.
","abstract_html":"<p>In asking the questions “How are white families striving to create antiracist family cultures simultaneously resisting reifying white dominant culture, and how are white children making sense of their racial identities in those families?” I had the opportunity to deepen previously established relationships with three families asking similar questions. Our collective querying resulted in data collected using critical ethnographic methods rooted in culturally responsive methods including fieldwork, formal and informal conversations, and written narrative. Unique themes emerged from each family’s data, from which I drew three major theoretical conclusions: the importance of (1) Critical Consciousness (2) Antiracist Community, and (3) Unfinishedness. The data indicates the need for continued research regarding white children’s antiracist racial identity development in the social, familial, and schooling spheres, as well as the motivations that undergird white caregivers to attempt to act in antiracist ways. This study contributes to a current gap in the literature regarding the development of antiracist attitudes among white children.</p>","abstract_has_math":false,"creators":["Kitchens, Katie"],"institution":null,"degree_name":"Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)","degree_level":"Dissertation","degree_discipline":"Education","degree_department":null,"school":null,"contributors":["Lilia D. Monzó, Ph.D.","Margie Sauceda Curwen, Ph.D.","Shelly Tochluk, Ph.D."],"advisors":[],"committee_chairs":[],"committee_members":[],"year":2024,"date_issued":"2024-08-01T07:00:00Z","date_published":"2024-08-01T07:00:00Z","updated_at":"2026-07-24T01:38:37Z","subjects":["antiracism","white supremacy","white dominance","white children","racial identity development","family cultures","Early Childhood Education","Elementary Education","Family and Consumer Sciences"],"languages":[],"rights":[],"rights_urls":[],"identifier_entries":[]},"links":{"outbound_url":"https://digitalcommons.chapman.edu/education_dissertations/88","outbound_label":"Repository record","outbound_source":"dc:identifier"},"metadata_groups":[{"id":"people","label":"People","entries":[{"key":"dc:contributor","label":"Contributor","values":["Lilia D. Monzó, Ph.D.","Margie Sauceda Curwen, Ph.D.","Shelly Tochluk, Ph.D."]},{"key":"dc:creator","label":"Author","values":["Kitchens, Katie"]}]},{"id":"academic_context","label":"Academic Context","entries":[{"key":"dc:date.available","label":"Dc Date Available","values":["2025-08-01T07:00:00Z"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_discipline","label":"Discipline","values":["Education"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_level","label":"Degree Level","values":["Dissertation"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_name","label":"Degree Name","values":["Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)"]}]},{"id":"subjects_keywords","label":"Subjects and Keywords","entries":[{"key":"dc:subject","label":"Dc Subject","values":["antiracism","white supremacy","white dominance","white children","racial identity development","family cultures","Early Childhood Education","Elementary Education","Family and Consumer Sciences"]}]},{"id":"identifiers","label":"Identifiers","entries":[{"key":"dc:identifier","label":"Identifier","values":["https://digitalcommons.chapman.edu/education_dissertations/88"]}]},{"id":"additional","label":"Additional Metadata","entries":[{"key":"dc:description.abstract","label":"Abstract","values":["In asking the questions “How are white families striving to create antiracist family cultures simultaneously resisting reifying white dominant culture, and how are white children making sense of their racial identities in those families?” I had the opportunity to deepen previously established relationships with three families asking similar questions. Our collective querying resulted in data collected using critical ethnographic methods rooted in culturally responsive methods including fieldwork, formal and informal conversations, and written narrative. Unique themes emerged from each family’s data, from which I drew three major theoretical conclusions: the importance of (1) Critical Consciousness (2) Antiracist Community, and (3) Unfinishedness. The data indicates the need for continued research regarding white children’s antiracist racial identity development in the social, familial, and schooling spheres, as well as the motivations that undergird white caregivers to attempt to act in antiracist ways. This study contributes to a current gap in the literature regarding the development of antiracist attitudes among white children.
"]},{"key":"dc:source","label":"Dc Source","values":["Kitchens, K. (2024). New ways of being white: White families striving to raise young antiracists [Doctoral dissertation, Chapman University]. Chapman University Digital Commons. https://doi.org/10.36837/chapman.000607"]},{"key":"dc:title","label":"Title","values":["New Ways of Being White: White Families Striving to Raise Young Antiracists"]}]}],"canonical_facts":{"dc:contributor":["Lilia D. Monzó, Ph.D.","Margie Sauceda Curwen, Ph.D.","Shelly Tochluk, Ph.D."],"dc:creator":["Kitchens, Katie"],"dc:date.available":["2025-08-01T07:00:00Z"],"dc:description.abstract":["In asking the questions “How are white families striving to create antiracist family cultures simultaneously resisting reifying white dominant culture, and how are white children making sense of their racial identities in those families?” I had the opportunity to deepen previously established relationships with three families asking similar questions. Our collective querying resulted in data collected using critical ethnographic methods rooted in culturally responsive methods including fieldwork, formal and informal conversations, and written narrative. Unique themes emerged from each family’s data, from which I drew three major theoretical conclusions: the importance of (1) Critical Consciousness (2) Antiracist Community, and (3) Unfinishedness. The data indicates the need for continued research regarding white children’s antiracist racial identity development in the social, familial, and schooling spheres, as well as the motivations that undergird white caregivers to attempt to act in antiracist ways. This study contributes to a current gap in the literature regarding the development of antiracist attitudes among white children.
"],"dc:identifier":["https://digitalcommons.chapman.edu/education_dissertations/88"],"dc:source":["Kitchens, K. (2024). New ways of being white: White families striving to raise young antiracists [Doctoral dissertation, Chapman University]. Chapman University Digital Commons. https://doi.org/10.36837/chapman.000607"],"dc:subject":["antiracism","white supremacy","white dominance","white children","racial identity development","family cultures","Early Childhood Education","Elementary Education","Family and Consumer Sciences"],"dc:title":["New Ways of Being White: White Families Striving to Raise Young Antiracists"],"thesis:degree_discipline":["Education"],"thesis:degree_level":["Dissertation"],"thesis:degree_name":["Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)"]},"updated_at":"2026-07-24T01:38:37Z"}