White Privilege: Unpacking the Invisible Knapsack

"White Privilege: Unpacking the Invisible Knapsack" is a 1989 essay written by American feminist scholar and anti-racist activist Peggy McIntosh.[1][2][3] It covers 50 examples, or hidden benefits,[4] from her perspective, of the privilege white people experience in everyday life.[5]

This article is about the essay by Peggy McIntosh. For other uses, see White privilege.

Themes

McIntosh outlines "invisible systems" at work,[1] as well as the main theme of an "invisible package of unearned assets", examined in the form of a metaphorical knapsack. The essay features 50 of her insights into experiential white privilege, listed numerically. These have been described as "small benefits that white Americans enjoy every day".[6]

Reception

The Atlantic has written that the intention behind the essay was to inspire "self-reflection, enhancing their capacity for empathy and compassion".[7] It has been described by Vice as one of the most authoritative texts on the subject of white privilege,[8] and The Harvard Gazette have called it a "groundbreaking article" and the most important of McIntosh's academic career.[9] It has been cited as responsible for the mainstreaming of discussion of white privilege,[10] becoming a "staple of discussions about bias" in society.[11] In 2018, artwork and studies inspired by the essay had become popular in social justice sections of social media, such as Tumblr.[12]

Influence on education

The essay has become one of the key teaching resources in the study of white privilege in the United States and Canada.[13][8] In 2016, some New York City public schools assigned the essay to high school students.[4] In 2017, a high school in Caledon, Ontario incorporated the essay in an 11th grade anthropology class.[13] Conor Friedersdorf recommended including the essay in college curricula.[14]

McIntosh's essay inspired "Privilege Walks", workshops, and other activities to help students identify their privileges.[15]

Privilege Walks

The origin of Privilege Walks (initially known as "Power Shuffles"[16]) is often attributed to McIntosh in the 1990s. Although her essay inspired them, in 2021, McIntosh denied any association with such practices and emphatically discouraged engaging in them:

I did not invent the exercises... and in fact I urge people not to undertake such exercises. They are too simple for complex experiences relating to power and privilege. I don’t know where they originated. They seem to answer a craving for instant one-size-fits-all awakenings. I think they are counterproductive.[16]

References
  1. "Beto O'Rourke and the proliferation of white privilege accusations". BBC. March 27, 2019.
  2. Spencer, Kyle (February 20, 2015). "At New York Private Schools, Challenging White Privilege From the Inside". New York Times.
  3. Pearson, Luke; Verass, Sophie (January 7, 2019). "10 things you should know about white privilege". sbs.com.au.
  4. Edelman, Susan (July 23, 2016). "City's public schools join fight against 'white power'". New York Post.
  5. Love, Catherine (March 13, 2016). "Deborah Pearson: 'It's about using my privilege to amplify other voices'". The Guardian.
  6. Desmond-Harris, Jenée (July 24, 2015). "White people have a race — but everyone flips out when we talk about it". Vox Media.
  7. Friedersdorf, Conor (September 17, 2019). "The Corruption of 'Privilege'". The Atlantic.
  8. "White People Talk About Their White Privilege". Vice Media. September 17, 2019.
  9. Koch, Katie (December 19, 2012). "Using privilege helpfully". The Harvard Gazette.
  10. Leonard, David (September 2, 2016). "The NFL is 67% black. Diversity hasn't helped white players and coaches understand racism". Vox Media.
  11. "Educator: Time to unpack your invisible knapsack of privileges". The Seattle Times. April 13, 2017.
  12. Sarappo, Emma (December 13, 2018). "How Tumblr Taught Social Justice to a Generation of Teenagers". Pacific Standard.
  13. Bascaramurty, Dakshana (October 16, 2017). "How Legos helped build a classroom lesson on white privilege". The Globe and Mail.
  14. "What Does 'Cultural Appropriation' Actually Mean?". The Atlantic. April 3, 2017.
  15. Milstein, Tema; Pileggi, Mairi; Morgan, Eric (2017). Environmental Communication Pedagogy and Practice. Routledge. p. 212. ISBN 978-1138673090. This exercise, inspired by Peggy McIntosh's (1989) "White privilege: Unpacking the invisible knapsack," helps learners locate themselves within a spectrum of environmental privilege, centering the roles of socio-economic class, race, gender, sexuality, colonialism, and global disparities in environmental experience.
  16. Parenti, Christian (November 18, 2021). "The First Privilege Walk". Nonsite.com. Retrieved February 4, 2022.
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