Becoming Under the White Gaze: Racialized Male Subjectivity in Dutch Education

Inequalities in Dutch secondary education are well-documented. However, the day-to-day experiences of racialized boys are rarely studied. This study asks: How do racialized men recall, interpret and navigate being constructed as threats during high school, and how did these experiences shape their sense of self? Eight racialized men aged 25-45 participated in semi-structured, retrospective interviews on their experiences in secondary education. An abductive thematic analysis, theorized through Fanon’s racial epidermal schema, Du Bois’ double consciousness and Curry’s concept of racial misandry, analyzed this in three stages. (1) Their encounters with the white gaze and racialized disciplinary practices in high school. (2) Navigation and resistance. (3) Lingering afterlives in sense of self. Retrospection was an instrumental part of this research: Because of this temporal distance from their experiences, Participants were better able to trace the racialized aspects of their past experiences.