Imagining an Anti-racist Future
Virtual , AustraliaWe live in an era where race, ethnicity and cultural identity determine group and individual place and experience in society. Notions of the declining significance of race and predictions of emerging post-racial democratic society have failed to materialise. In fact, the last two decades have shown us that racism and resurgent nationalism remain persistent sources of intolerance, division, and inequalities. Bodies of scholarship across wide-ranging fields have reported the pervasiveness of interpersonal and structural racism in many western countries. Racial, ethnic, and cultural minorities experience disproportionate adversities in health, education, employment, housing, consumer and credit markets, and criminal justice. In this talk, I reflect on research undertaken in the last seven years, and discuss findings on the nature, structure, and impact of racism in the Australian context. I then reflect on anti-racism, and some emerging thoughts about a holistic approach towards tackling and dismantling racism. I consider how denial and neglect constitute the key bedrocks of contemporary racism, and argue that a “core value” perspective on anti-racism may potentially offer an ideal strategy for anti-racist future. Speaker Dr Amanuel Elias is a Research Fellow at Alfred Deakin Institute for Citizenship & Globalisation, Deakin University. His research focuses on race relations, […]