ABSTRACT
I argue that macro-level societal Discourses manifest themselves and affect the ways in which individuals identify themselves in online spaces. I analyse how Discourses of whiteness position individuals within a hierarchy of privilege and determine who has rights, responsibilities, power, and control over others. Rather than asking how Whites and non-Whites experience online learning, I seek to explain how identification and engagements are racialised with respect to privilege and diversity. By so doing, I seek to explain how discursive practices limit, shape, authorise, and legitimise the identifications that can be utilised and the meanings that they convey. With this approach, I hope to move beyond a mere description of who is who but illustrate how identification preserves power, privilege, and hierarchy with respect to race, ethnicity, and nationality. In particular, I sketch how some individuals were able to benefit from the learning community while some individuals were simply othered. Being other or different is not inconsequential but rather closely related to how individuals make sense of their experiences. I underscore the point that macro-level societal Discourses have a direct impact on how people identify themselves and others, and thus that such discourses must also affect subjectivities. This starkly contrasts with the belief that online spaces liberate people from power relations and equalise social status resulting in greater equality of participation.
