Toward a Transformative Agenda on Race
We understand that it is critical to have an analysis about race, ethnicity, and other forms of hierarchy. We also understand that this analysis is not a communications strategy or a framing strategy. It is not enough to say that we must talk about race. That is only the first step. We must also learn through research how to talk about, think about, and act on race in a transformative way so that race is no longer seen as a necessary divide but something that can help define and release our collective creative capacity. For example, we have discovered that just talking about disparities based on race and ethnicity has a negative impact on efforts to generate support for race-conscious programs. To facilitate this shift, we have initiated an innovative research and scholarship focus that we call a "transformative agenda around race." This new focus, which encompasses all our research and policy efforts, is marked by a search for the keys to sustaining a collaborative and inclusive dialogue about race, ethnicity and social justice. Initiatives that contextualize this research focus include the following:
Recent activities:
- Research conducted at the Institute under the leadership of Dr. Phillip Mazzocco, former Post Doctoral Fellow, highlights the dangers of not talking about race and demonstrates how effective framing of information and dialogues about race can gain support for affirmative action. For more information, please review The Dangers of Not Speaking About Race: A Summary of Research Affirming the Merits of Color-Conscious Approach to Racial Communications and Equity (pdf).
- john powell’s article (with assistance from Research Associate Stephen Menendian), "The Race and Class Nexus: An Intersectional Perspective" in the November 2007 issue of the University of Minnesota law journal, argues against the use of class as a proxy for race and calls for a dialogue that includes both.
- The institute is engaged in a research project that investigates how various frames employed by political candidates and others to talk about race and social justice resonate with audiences.
- Our national conference, "Toward a Transformative Agenda Around Race," cosponsored with the OSU Office of Minority Affairs, and the concurrent film festival (November 29 - December 2, 2007), bring together scholars, researchers, and activists to investigate and challenge common notions about race and to analyze the power of race to influence the quality of life in our society and the administration of democracy. Conference workshops and panels will include discussions about the mechanisms by which institutional arrangements and public policies have energized and perpetuated cumulative race-based disadvantage across many opportunity domains and across generations. For more information, please visit: www.kirwantransformativeraceconf.org/.
- In a project funded by Public Interest Projects, the Institute is assessing the context and content of current efforts to build alliances between immigrants and African Americans in the United States. At the heart of this project is the effort to identify different models of effective alliances defined especially with respect to alliances that build long-term relationships of trust and mutual support between African Americans and immigrants; build grassroots power that can be deployed toward a variety of economic and social justice goals; and seek to generate concrete policy or practical gains for all stakeholders.
