Recent scholarship in comparative and international education (CIE) has witnessed the emergence of two competing viewpoints on the history of the field. One draws increasing attention to the ways CIE has been implicated in colonial projects and how the underpinning racist ideologies persist in the field today. The other perspective rejects this argument on the basis that it engages with 'identity politics.' While discussions of racism, coloniality and the politics of representation have been mainstreamed in other areas of educational research, the reaction it has engendered in CIE offers insights into the workings of the field. In this paper, we draw upon intellectual resources theorising ignorance, white intermediaries and affect to better understand whiteness as an organising principle in the disciplinary identity of CIE. These tools offer possibilities for moving beyond a defensive response to decolonial critiques towards more dialogic and reparative histories of CIE.