Mohan Dutta: Culture-Centered Approach

The nationality of origin of migrant communities participating in intervention development  In co-creating infrastructures for voices at the "margins of the margins," the culture-centered approach (CCA) attends to the question "Who is missing from the dominant discursive spaces?" "Whose voices are not here?" "Who are located at sites of ongoing erasures?" This question then guides our theoretical sampling, with the sampling frame driven by the voices of those at the "margins of the margins." Drawing on the ley tenets of Subaltern Studies theory, the concept of "margins of the margins" is anchored in seeking to understand ongoing and continual processes of erasure. This informs a methodological reflexivity that requires the research team of community researchers, activists, and academics to continually explore the interplays of power and the co-constructive process of co-creating communicative spaces.

The racist politics of whiteness is convergent with the feudal politics of caste (Wilkerson, 2020). Both white supremacy and caste supremacy work through the erasure of the voices of the outcaste, even as the outcaste is turned into the object of interventions. Brahminical privilege in the diaspora colludes with Whiteness in perpetuating caste oppression.  Caste oppression, picked up and circulated into the networks of White  Pākehā culture, find new modalities of perpetuating its violence. In response to the work of the culture-centered approach (CCA) (Dutta, 2004), imagine this scenario, a White  Pākehā  person and a White Brahmin person having a conversation about the "margins of the margins," a key concept of the CCA.  The conversation goes somewhat like this. White  Pākehā (with a grimace, expressing disgust) : And what even is that, "margins of the margins?" White Brahmin (picking up the  Pākehā grimace and perfecting it) : Oh really, how disgust...

By  Ngā  Hau Christine Elers and Mohan Dutta  One of the vital strategies of whiteness is "talking behind your back."  Reflecting on this strategy of whiteness, notes Nga Hau: "I write this as Māori woman, who has endured many experiences in my life, of toxic and racist kōrero conducted behind my back by Pākehā, while undertaking my work duties. Sometimes, eventually that kōrero has made its way back to me. Recovering racist Andrew Judd, explained to our Feilding advisory group of Māori participants, at the end of last year, that is very common for Pākehā to engage in disturbing and even racist kōrero behind our backs, whilst appearing supportive to our faces.  Not only will some Pākehā do that with other like-minded Pākehā but they will also seek out people of colour, including Māori who are receptive to the mechanics of Whiteness to justify their own racism, because if people of colour engage in this type of kōrero then it must be true. And that they begin by ...