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Whiteness and the violence of "talking behind your back": The multiple layers of culture-centered labour

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 targeting one person of colour first."

The violence of the racist strategy of "talking behind your back" is felt in the toxic effects on the body.

Notes Mohan:

"Although I might try to put up a brave face, especially when the violence is collectively experienced, the toxicity stays. It is hard to erase the images of the contorted faces, choreographed to perfection to convey the vigor of disdain while talking behind your back. It is hard to delete the violence of the words used, the abuses thrown at you behind your back. The irony of our work often is that we negotiate this violence while seeking to co-create infrastructures for listening to voices."

The sleepless nights, searing headaches, pain in the neck and backbone, tingling sensations in the fingers, and inability to focus are just some of the symptoms that reflect this voice. In our culture-centered work with communities negotiating health and wellness at the "margins of the margins," negotiating the toxic whiteness embedded in structures through gossips, "talking behind your back" and ongoing gaslighting of the method work to further reproduce the experiences of stress. 

The labour of doing culture-centered work, the many hours in the field spent in conversations, the work of challenging structures, is often situated amidst the labour of negotiating the various toxic strategies of whiteness. "Talking behind your work" is one such strategy that is used by White structures to silence the voices emergent from the margins. To articulate that the talks behind the back must stop is a vital step toward sustaining anti-violence interventions.

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