Is "micro-assumption" a term worth coining — or does the microaggression literature already hold this ground?
Why the question matters
Chester Pierce named microaggressions in the 1970s and Derald Wing Sue built the taxonomy in 2007. If the assumption behind the slight is already covered by their categories, I should use their language and cite it. If it is not, then well-meaning white teachers are missing the one part of this they can actually examine privately — the guess they made before they spoke.
What I currently think
My read so far: the literature is rich on the utterance and its effects, and comparatively thin on the pre-verbal inference as a separate, auditable unit. Sue's microinsult and microinvalidation categories describe what lands; they do not isolate what was believed a half-second earlier. I am proposing micro-assumption as the input and microaggression as the output. I need a serious database pass before claiming novelty — and I want colleagues to try to disprove it.
What I am reading & learning
- —Sue et al. (2007), Racial microaggressions in everyday life
- —Solórzano, Ceja, & Yosso (2000), Critical race theory and campus racial climate
- —Pérez Huber & Solórzano (2015), Racial microaggressions as a tool for critical race research
- —Kohli & Solórzano (2012), Teachers, please learn our names!
- —Fu et al. (2022), Racial microaggressions and anti-racism: a school-based review
Related journal entries
- Micro-assumptions: the guess that comes before the slight
A microaggression is something a student hears. A micro-assumption is the thing I believed a half-second before I opened my mouth. This entry is about well-meaning white adults — me included — and the daily arithmetic of small guesses that adds up to a mountain a student has to climb alone.