Navigating whiteness in ELT: fear, anger, and exhaustion among Chinese women teachers
Navigating whiteness in ELT: fear, anger, and exhaustion among Chinese women teachers
English language teaching (ELT) in China is a racially stratified industry, privileging whiteness as a social norm and identity. Scholars have explored the contested meanings of whiteness in the ELT industry from the perspective of White teachers. This paper extends this scholarship by examining the affective experiences of Chinese women teachers in their encounters with whiteness. Using emotional maps and interviews with 18 Chinese women educators, this study delves into their largely negative experiences with foreign teachers. Through managing White teachers as “time bombs,” my informants shared feelings of fear, anger, and exhaustion, which, I argue, reflect racism and gender regulation conditioning hierarchical interactions between Chinese women and Whites. These heavily racialized and gendered experiences thus draw attention to intersectional dynamics within the global ELT industry from transnational and intersectional perspectives, and call for a disruption of white privilege in order to reconstitute the field along lines that value social justice.
165-186
Wang, Shuling
dc178e2e-4e5c-4c91-89dd-dff329ba9426
7 April 2025
Wang, Shuling
dc178e2e-4e5c-4c91-89dd-dff329ba9426
Wang, Shuling
(2025)
Navigating whiteness in ELT: fear, anger, and exhaustion among Chinese women teachers.
In,
Lan, Shanshan and Debnár, Miloš
(eds.)
Migration, Transnational Flows, and the Contested Meanings of Race in Asia.
(IMISCOE Research Series)
1 ed.
Springer Cham, .
(doi:10.1007/978-3-031-81545-4_9).
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Abstract
English language teaching (ELT) in China is a racially stratified industry, privileging whiteness as a social norm and identity. Scholars have explored the contested meanings of whiteness in the ELT industry from the perspective of White teachers. This paper extends this scholarship by examining the affective experiences of Chinese women teachers in their encounters with whiteness. Using emotional maps and interviews with 18 Chinese women educators, this study delves into their largely negative experiences with foreign teachers. Through managing White teachers as “time bombs,” my informants shared feelings of fear, anger, and exhaustion, which, I argue, reflect racism and gender regulation conditioning hierarchical interactions between Chinese women and Whites. These heavily racialized and gendered experiences thus draw attention to intersectional dynamics within the global ELT industry from transnational and intersectional perspectives, and call for a disruption of white privilege in order to reconstitute the field along lines that value social justice.
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Navigating Whiteness in ELT- Fear, Anger, and Exhaustion Among Chinese Women Teachers
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Navigating Whiteness in ELT- Fear, Anger, and Exhaustion Among Chinese Women Teachers
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Accepted/In Press date: 2025
Published date: 7 April 2025
Identifiers
Local EPrints ID: 488227
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/488227
ISSN: 2364-4087
PURE UUID: 71c9a892-c1a4-47fb-8d2f-5fcb35598077
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Date deposited: 18 Mar 2024 18:01
Last modified: 08 Mar 2025 03:13
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Contributors
Author:
Shuling Wang
Editor:
Shanshan Lan
Editor:
Miloš Debnár
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