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But We’re Not Laughing: White Male College Students’ Racial Joking and What This Says About “Post-Racial” Discourse
- Journal of College Student Development
- Johns Hopkins University Press
- Volume 55, Number 1, January 2014
- pp. 1-15
- 10.1353/csd.2014.0007
- Article
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This study critically analyzes White male college student narratives regarding racial joking. Through semi-structured interviews, 29 participants described a pattern of behavior and rationalization: they heard and told racist jokes frequently; the jokes were framed as not racist; and the jokes were told only among White people, because the participants viewed minorities as overly sensitive. These students were far from post-racial (i.e., in a state where race no longer matters), despite the prevalence of this discourse, and this highlighted a shared responsibility in the perpetuation of racist practices among joke tellers, listeners, and institutions of higher education.