CONFRONTING RACISM DISCUSSION SERIES

The Department of Sociology and Anthropology is committed to promoting the values of diversity, equity, and human rights and to confronting racism in our fields of research, our institution, and our classrooms.

As part of these efforts and to support our students, colleagues, and communities, we are undertaking a series of discussions in the Fall, 2020 semester, to explore anthropological and sociological perspectives on race and ethnicity, constructions and experiences of race and racism, and efforts to confront structural formulations of white supremacy. The series will also explore the ways these categories intersect with other social cleavages and dimensions of inequality, including gender, sexuality, citizenship, education, health, and social class.

Discussions will be led by department faculty members in collaboration with SoAn majors and minors to build conversation within and beyond the SoAn Department. The series is open to all in the Puget Sound community and will be held on Zoom semi-weekly on Thursdays at 4PM (see below for a detailed schedule). Details and readings will be emailed and posted here a week before each discussion.

Please RSVP to individual discussions (links in schedule below) for the Zoom joining information.

Fall Semester 2020 Schedule

September 17 @ 4pm
"Out From the Shadows of Racist Anthropology"

Gareth Barkin will lead a discussion about negotiating the racist history of anthropology through the lens of Michelle Munyikwa's Scientific American blog post on her own struggles with that topic. Read her blog here.

We will also discuss the Confronting Racism Discussion Series and the SoAn Department's broader antiracism collaborations, and introduce the Sociology & Anthropology Student Association (SASA). For those interested in a deeper dive on anthropology's problematic history, please check out this influential article by Carol Mukhopadhyay and Yolanda Moses. Read the article here.

October 1 @ 4pm
Race and Immigration Status in Warehouse Labor

Jason Struna will lead a discussion of the ways that race, gender, employment, and immigration status collude to create exploitative conditions for workers in the sprawling warehouse and logistics industry in Southern California. You can read an article on "The Matrix of Exploitation" by Struna and coauthors in the Journal of Labor and Society here.

October 15 @ 4pm
Exploring Racial Disparities in Health Outcomes

Join the Department of Sociology & Anthropology for a student-centered discussion of the multiple ways in which race and racism impact health outcomes, with the current COVID-19 pandemic as a backdrop to understanding the connections between race and health disparities. Participants will have time to discuss issues of race-related health disparities with other attendees in a relaxed, informal setting.

As a starting point for this discussion, please read William Marshall's brief post that raises issues of racial inequality in relation to COVID-19.

October 29 @ 4pm
Anthropology, American Anti-Racism, Arabia, and Difference

Andrew Gardner will lead a discussion of his work on paradigms of race and ethnicity in Qatar as compared with the increasingly hegemonic U.S. framing. Though not necessary to participate in the discussion, you can read his article, "Imperial Diversity," or view his video lecture on the topic.

November 12 @ 4pm
White Kids

Jennifer Utrata will lead a discussion of some of the key insights from sociologist Margaret Hagerman's recent book, White Kids, which explores how affluent, white children in middle school develop differing ideas about race. For some background on the book, please read this recent interview with Hagerman in The Atlantic.

Feel free to also check out a podcast conversation on the Cultural Transmission of White Privilege from The Sociology Annex.

If you would like to join the discussion, please RSVP to receive the Zoom link.


If you have questions about the Confronting Racism Discussion Series, please email Gareth Barkin at barkin@pugetsound.edu