William Moix

I argue that distinctively raced institutions - white fraternities are the sites of dangerous self-censorship that are enabled by and further perpetuate pernicious ignorance which harms the subjects of their ignorance (i.e. women and persons of color). I conceptualize this phenomenon of self-censorship through Kristie Dotson’s testimonial smothering. It will follow that due to an internal instance of this phenomenon – what I call localized testimonial smothering – possible insider/outsider agents of change will be unable to express dissent, effectively curtailing socially just practices in these institutions. As members of these fraternities have a high potentiality to assume powerful social roles post-graduation, they bring with them the same pernicious ignorance into those socially salient roles. This results in women and persons of color being incompetently understood in their appeals to those who have the power to make notable changes or to cast judgment in an impactful way. Thus, these marginalized social identities self-censor to avoid their misunderstood testimonies being used to their detriment. Drawing from Dotson again, this latter phenomenon curtails just social practices on a broader scale than that of its localized counterpart – Thus, I call societal testimonial smothering. By conceptualizing the interaction of these two distinct instances of self-censorship – localized testimonial smothering and societal testimonial smothering – I argue that the former results in the latter, and vice versa, creating a feedback loop. These problematic epistemic practices, left unchecked, will perpetuate a pernicious, systematic ignorance of marginalized experience.