Unpacking Experiences of Racism in European Applied Linguistics

Abstract

Abstract This chapter focuses on three experiences as a racially minoritized academic in European applied linguistics. These three experiences centre on being unknowingly targeted as a subject of a study, dealing with professional gatekeeping from a white researcher who researched the author’s community and experiences of recruitment. Theoretically, the author analyses these instances using Koritha Mitchell’s know your place aggression to examine how whiteness is present and perpetuated in the European context. The author situates aggressions towards him within broader colonial and racial histories in Europe which perpetuate white supremacy while subordinating racially minoritised people and communities. Using this analysis, he then provides a test with a series of questions to reanalyse scholarship on racially minoritised communities and to reorient future work. This provides a practical activity to create a more socially just field.