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Pakeha mediocrity and the illusion of merit



Pakeha claims to merit often obfuscate the structures of Whiteness that make invisible Pakeha mediocrity, inverting Pakeha mediocrity as merit.

The ability to erase the sources of its privilege is fundamental to the reproduction of privilege.

Pakeha privilege reproduces itself by bringing forth the question of merit, articulating that merit ought to serve as the basis for evaluations, appointments, and mobility. The language of meritocracy on the surface appears committed to equality and claims to offer a level playing field. Commitments to addressing deep-seated racist inequalities are then projected as anti-meritocratic.

Yet, what this discourse of merit strategically erases are the fundamentally racist inequities in how structures are constituted that underlie access to the playing field.

The rules of the game are dictated by the White majority culture, embedded in its logics of White norms.

Moreover, the claims to merit often work to hide the lack of merit in mainstream White performance.

You have incredibly unproductive Pakeha for instance pointing to Maori access and the unfairness of it all, and in doing so, effectively shifting the attention away from their lack of productivity by the very same standards established by Pakeha culture.

The illusion of merit thus props up and keeps intact the racism that forms the basis of White identity and White hegemony.

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