Antiracism, Inc

Felice Blake
English
UC Santa Barbara

The goal of the 2013-14 program aimed to rethink the meaning of antiracism and antiracist work in light of contemporary shifts in global political discourses on race and racism. Current rhetoric on race purports to embrace principles of racial equality, anti-discrimination and multiculturalism; yet old and new forms of racial violence, exploitation and discrimination persist. A critical language of race originally deployed by racial justice and decolonization movements is now championed by social actors right across the political spectrum. The group examined how antiracist rhetoric works in tandem with discourses emerging from within (critical and administrative) and outside (legal and political) of the university, evaluate how antiracist discourse impedes and enable sthe work of producing just and equitable outcomes.