College Composition and Communication Dec 2022

“I Am Not Your Teaching Moment”: The Benevolent Gaslight and Epistemic Violence

Pritha Prasad ; Louis M. Maraj

Abstract

This essay defines “benevolent gaslighting”: a technology of whiteness in which racisms are repurposed as benevolent misunderstandings. In reading disciplinary trends and cultural examples, we show how it (re)centers whiteness and prompts BIPOC to question their histories, memories, and realities by situating racial trauma as “progressive” teaching moments.

Journal
College Composition and Communication
Published
2022-12-01
DOI
10.58680/ccc202232278
Open Access
Closed
Topics
race and writing

Citation Context

Cited by in this index (4)

  1. Lee et al. (2026)
    Managing Anti-Asian Violence: White “Hate” Discourses in the COVID-19 Hate Crim…
    Rhetoric Society Quarterly
  2. Kynard (2024)
    Bridging the Issues: “Just What Is Critical Race Theory and What Is It Doing in…
    College English
  3. Santana et al. (2024)
    Working toward Antiracist Graduate Student Writing Development
    College English
  4. Brooks-Gillies et al. (2024)
    Negotiating Relationships at the Writing Center: Removing Roadblocks and Buildi…
    College Composition and Communication

Cites in this index (0)

No references match articles in this index.

Also cites 6 works outside this index ↓
  1. (2018)
    Black ‘Feminisms’ and Pessimism: Abolishing Moynihan’s Negro Family
    Theory & Event  ↗
  2. (2015)
    Teaching While Black: Witnessing and Countering Disciplinary Whiteness, Racial Violence, …
    Literacy in Composition Studies  ↗
  3. (2013)
    Blackness and Nothingness (Mysticism in the Flesh)
    South Atlantic Quarterly  ↗
  4. (2015)
    Cultivating Land-Based Literacies and Rhetorics
    Literacy in Composition Studies  ↗
  5. (2014)
    Musing: Spectral Phenomenologies: Dwelling Poetically in Professional Philosophy
    Hypatia  ↗
  6. (1987)
    Mama’s Baby, Papa’s Maybe: An American Grammar Book
    Diacritics  ↗
CrossRef global citation count: 16 View in citation network →

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