2008-2009 Provost Lecture Series

Privilege, Power, and Difference

Thursday, January 22, 2009
10:30 a.m.-Noon
Fiedler Auditorium
Fiedler Hall

Allan Johnson

 

Abstract:

One of the greatest barriers to ending racism and other forms of privilege is that we are trapped in cultural ways of thinking that turn conversations about privilege and oppression into occasions for dominant groups to feel guilty and defensive. As a result, the conversations we need to have either happen badly or, more often, don't happen at all. This presentation can help overcome that barrier by providing an alternative way of thinking about issues of privilege. It is based on the author's books, THE GENDER KNOT (revised edition, 2005) and PRIVILEGE, POWER, AND DIFFERENCE (2nd edition, 2005). For more about the speaker, visit his website at: http://uhaweb.hartford.edu/agjohnson/homepage.htm

Biographical Sketch:

Allan G. Johnson is a writer, teacher, and public speaker who has worked on issues of privilege, oppression, and social inequality since receiving his Ph.D. in sociology from the University of Michigan in 1972. After almost 30 years of college teaching, including the Hartford College of Women, Johnson now devotes himself entirely to writing and public speaking. He has worked with more than 180 schools and organizations in 36 states. His books include The Forest and the Trees: Sociology as Life, Practice, and Promise (rev. ed., 2008), The Blackwell Dictionary of Sociology (2nd ed., 2000), The Gender Knot: Unraveling Our Patriarchal Legacy (rev. ed., 2005) and Privilege, Power, and Difference (2nd ed., 2005). Johnson's work has been translated into several languages and excerpted in numerous anthologies.