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Date of Award

Spring 2024

Document Type

Masters Thesis

Department or Program Affiliation

Psychology

Degree Name

Master of Science (MS)

Department

Psychology

First Advisor

Gonzalez, Antonya

Second Advisor

Lemm, Kristi M., 1971-

Third Advisor

McLean, Kate C.

Abstract

Some cultural narratives in the United States prioritize White esteem and promote a superficial narrative of racial progress and equality. These same narratives influence psychological processes of ignoring history and denying racism (Nelson et al., 2012; Bonam et al., 2019) and play a part in the erasure of contemporary Indigenous peoples. We investigated how Native visibility could have an impact on interest in Native issues and systemic racism acknowledgment. When people learned about Pacific Northwest Native peoples’ past and present experiences with the environmental impact of dams, they demonstrated higher systemic racism acknowledgment through the process of having learned new information about local Native people compared to individuals who learned about the same topic with Native experiences made invisible. In addition, we aimed to understand how individual differences in personal ties to Native people and existing knowledge of PNW Native history influenced these effects. We found that individuals with closer ties with Native people tended to demonstrate more existing knowledge of PNW Native history, however, these effects did not interfere with the intervention’s ability to reduce systemic racism denial. Our findings suggest that Native visibility can enhance awareness of systemic racism and interest in contemporary Native issues, which challenges the normative state of education that often renders Native people invisible. Furthermore, we discuss how place-based history interventions may counteract identity-defensive reactions that previous research has demonstrated are related to avoidance and perpetuation of ignorance.

Type

Text

Keywords

epistemology of ignorance, racism, White identity, sociocultural factors, intergroup processes, critical history

Publisher

Western Washington University

OCLC Number

1440000769

Subject – LCSH

Knowledge, Theory of; Ignorance (Theory of knowledge); White people--Race identity; Racism against Indigenous peoples

Format

application/pdf

Genre/Form

masters theses

Language

English

Rights

Copying of this document in whole or in part is allowable only for scholarly purposes. It is understood, however, that any copying or publication of this document for commercial purposes, or for financial gain, shall not be allowed without the author’s written permission.

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