Growing Up White Saviors

In an enduring moment of pandemic, racial reckoning, and grave economic inequalities, the question of how white people with privilege most effectively and ethically engage momentous social problems remains. I inquire whether those who have participated in the white savior complex earlier in their lives later commit to more critical, reflexive, and collective forms of social justice organizing. Based on 21 interviews and a survey with people who had formerly participated in advocacy pertaining to the protection of children affected by the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) war between 2008 and 2010, this work explores what enables the white savior complex, whether white saviors can change, and if so, what facilitates transformation. Ultimately, I argue that the white savior complex is about being extraordinary. It is part of a pursuit to find purpose. It is about being right and good—and it is about reaching out to assist another while avoiding examination of both oneself and the conditions that enable the suffering in the first place. I found that people who have been engaged in the white savior complex can and do change. Yet, growing up and transforming from the white savior complex is not inevitable. It takes time, new social networks, and education that cultivates critical consciousness. I conclude by naming antidotes to the white savior complex: efforts which place lineage, humility, and curiosity at the center. Such efforts incorporate accountability and critical feedback and invoke concerted reflection on structural determination as well as personal social location identities and motivations.