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NAVIGATING MY LIVED EXPERIENCES IN THE CONTEXT OF MY ENVIRONMENT:

AN AUTOETHNOGRAPHIC PHENOMENOLOGICAL APPROACH TO WHITE FRAGILITY IN A PRIMARILY WHITE HIGH SCHOOL

OLUWATEYIN AGHEDO

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PUBLISHED IN:

 Volume 2, Issue 3, November  2025

Special Issue

Sankofa in AP Research

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DOI:

https://doi.org/10.70144/oa020303hs

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ABSTRACT:

The article is an academic research paper examining the prevalence of White Fragility among students at Kingwood High School, a predominantly White high school located in the Northern Houston/Harris County neighborhood of Kingwood. Utilizing an autoethnographic phenomenological method, the author contextualizes their personal experiences of racial trauma and microaggressions experienced at the aforementioned school and in the neighborhood, alongside publicly available data to analyze how the community perpetuates the phenomenon of White Fragility. The paper establishes important definitions of racism, prejudice, discrimination, and White Fragility and the hegemonic system of Whiteness. Using the autoethnographical framework, the author emphasizes how the lack of diversity in Kingwood High School and the Kingwood community foster an environment where racial microaggressions and documented acts of racial violence are recurrent. Ultimately, the author concludes that this pervasive centralization of Whiteness reinforces racist systems and prevents the dissolution of racism by ensuring that any attempt to challenge such status quo is met with emotionally defensive reactions indicative of White Fragility.

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