UC Santa Cruz

This dissertation investigates anti-racist feminist consciousness development and solidarity practices among sixteen activist White men. The interviewees were selected based upon a nomination process by anti-racist feminist activists. We conducted life story interviews exploring turning points and influences on the interviewees’ paths to anti-racist feminist praxis. Interviewees also described their anti-racist feminist praxis, projects, and what solidarity means to them. A research team analyzed the interviews with the Listening Guide. The Listening Guide is an approach to analyzing qualitative data that highlights voice and relationship. The results of the study indicate diverse patterns of life stories and trajectories with common threads of marginality, mentorship, community, and activism. Solidarity for the interviewees was both a social and psychological practice of challenging Whiteness and hegemonic masculinity at multiple levels of analysis. Lastly, using the Listening Guide, we discerned the various social justice voices that the participants spoke with in grounding or justifying their activism, which highlights the complexities, challenges, and contradictions of solidarity from dominant group positions. We conclude with implications, limitations of this study, and future directions for research and application of these findings.