DiAngelo to give perspective about white privilege

Author and social justice educator Robin DiAngelo, Ph.D., challenges the meaning of being white in a society that claims that race has no meaning. She will speak at Manchester University and explore how racism is hard for whites to see even though our nation’s culture is divided by it.

DiAngelo will present “What Does it Mean to Be White?” at 3:30 p.m. Tuesday, Nov. 3, in Cordier Auditorium on the North Manchester campus. The event is free and open to the public.

“I grew up poor and white,” she says on her website. “While my class oppression has been relatively visible to me, my race privilege has not.”

In her efforts to understand how race shapes lives, DiAngelo used the issue in the center of her analysis and gained a deeper perspective on how racism persists. 

One of her concerns is an increasingly white teaching force in the U.S. as it compares with an ever more diverse student population.
Her research has focused on whiteness studies and critical discourse analysis that explains how “Whiteness” is found in everyday situations. 

The two-time winner of the University of Washington Student’s Choice Award for Educator of the Year serves as director of Equity for Senior Services, she has been a consultant and trainer for more than 20 years on issues of racial and social justice, and delivers the city of Seattle’s Race and Social Justice Initiative Anti-Racism training.

The presentation is part of the Values, Ideas and the Arts series at the University.

Prepared by Tiana Maclin, MU communications assistant.

October 26, 2015