When Racial Passing Becomes Racial Fraud

Meena Krishnamurthy, Queen’s University, Department of Philosophy

Thursday, 14 October 2021

7:00 – 8:30 pm EST

Register to Attend When Racial Passing Becomes Racial Fraud

ABSTRACT

Despite the attention given to the many recent cases of racial fraud, little has been said about what distinguishes these cases from those such as Rev. Jesse Routté – a Black American pastor – who, in 1947, put on a turban and an Indian accent when travelling in the American south. Racial fraud is assumed to be morally wrong, but Routté’s case doesn’t seem to be obviously so. I argue that racial fraud is distinct from, what we might call, mere racial passing. Both involve a self-conscious choice to alter one’s racial identity, but, unlike racial passing, which is a way of evading racial oppression, racial fraud actually works to entrench racial oppression. In fact, racial fraud is wrong precisely because of this moral asymmetry.

SPEAKER PROFILE

Professor Krishnamurthy is a political philosopher who works on race, democracy, and social movements. She is currently writing a book (The Emotions of Nonviolence) and a series of related papers on Martin Luther King Jr.’s political philosophy. Her work is about King’s views on the role of the political emotions in motivation to end racial injustice. It explores how he used the various tactics of the civil rights movement (protest, images, letters, and oratory) to engage these emotions and to overcome some of the barriers to political action. As a mother of a white passing child, she also has special interests in the ethics of racial passing.

Read more about Meena Krishnamurthy.

SUGGESTED READINGS

• Briit Bennet, The Vanishing Half
• John Howard Griffin, Black Like Me
• Grace Halsell, Soul Sista
• Allyson Hobbs, Chosen Exile
• Nella Larsen, Passing

Race, Distrust, and Vaccine Hesitancy

Carolyn McLeod, Western University, Department of Philosophy

Kharissa Edwards, BSc Western University, Class of 2021

Sinéad Osivwemu, Western University, Class of 2023

Thursday, 21 October 2021

7:00 – 8:30 pm EST

Register to Attend Race, Distrust, and Vaccine Hesitancy

ABSTRACT

Some of the media concerning vaccine hesitancy lumps everyone who is vaccine hesitant together, describing these people as being lazy, selfish, or believers in conspiracy theories. But some vaccine hesitancy is borne out of racial injustice. We will discuss this sort of vaccine hesitancy and explain how one morally ought to respond to it while advocating for strict policies concerning vaccination.

SPEAKER PROFILES

(pictured above, left to right: Carolyn McLeod, Kharissa Edwards, Sinéad Osivwemu)

Carolyn McLeod is Professor and Chair of the Department of Philosophy at Western University and a recently named Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada. Her areas of expertise include feminist philosophy, bioethics, and moral philosophy. She is internationally recognized for her work on the ethics of reproduction, parenthood, and adoption, and on key concepts in moral philosophy such as trust and autonomy. Her current research concerns the politics of distrust and belonging for marginalized social groups, including racial groups.

Kharissa Edwards recently received her Honours BSc at Western University in Biology & Medical Sciences, and she aspires to be a bioethicist or health lawyer. More specifically, she wants to pursue a career that tackles racial health disparities and exploitation in medicine. She formerly held the post of VP Communications for Western’s Black Students Association. During the summer of 2021, she completed an Undergraduate Student Research Internship (USRI) that focused on race and vaccine hesitancy and was supervised by Prof. Carolyn McLeod.

Sinéad Osivwemu is a third-year honours undergraduate student at Western who specializes in Genetics and who also has research interests in bioethics and the philosophy of race, culture, and ethnicity. She is the current president of the African Students’ Association, Vice President of Communications for Step Above Stigma, and Vice President of Events for Western Future Black Physicians. During the summer of 2021, she completed an Undergraduate Student Research Internship (USRI) that focused on race and vaccine hesitancy and was supervised by Prof. Carolyn McLeod.

SUGGESTED READINGS

• Harriet Washington, Medical Apartheid: The Dark History of Medical Experimentation on Black Americans from Colonial Times to the Present
• Rebecca Skloot, The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks
• Maya Goldenberg, Vaccine Hesitancy: Public Trust, Expertise, and the War on Science

Indigenous Climate Justice, Nature Based Solutions and Self-Determined Futures

Deborah McGregor, York University, Osgoode Hall Law School

Thursday, 28 October 2021

7:00 – 8:30 pm EST

Register to Attend Indigenous Climate Justice, Nature Based Solutions and Self-Determined Futures

ABSTRACT

What does it mean to “live well” with the Earth in face of climate/ecological crisis? What considerations are foundational for achieving Indigenous climate justice and planetary health?  Indigenous legal and knowledge systems inform Indigenous derived solutions in support all of all life.  I will explore how nature based solutions informs Indigenous climate leadership that in turn informs our collective and sustainable future.

SPEAKER PROFILE

Deborah McGregor (Anishinaabe) is from Whitefish River First Nation, Birch Island, Ontario. At York University, she is joint faculty with Osgoode Hall law and Environmental Studies & Urban Change and is Canada Research Chair in Indigenous Environmental Justice. Professor McGregor’s research has focused on Indigenous knowledge systems and their various applications in diverse contexts including environmental and water governance, environmental justice, health and environment, climate change and Indigenous legal traditions. She remains actively involved in a variety of Indigenous communities, serving as an advisor and continuing to engage in community-based research and initiatives and has been at the forefront of Indigenous environmental justice and Indigenous research theory and practice. She is co-editor of Indigenous research: Theories, practices, and relationships, Indigenous Peoples and Autonomy: Insights for a Global Age, the Anishinaabewin conference proceedings series. Her current projects focus on “Indigenous Environmental (In)Justice: theory and practice” and “Indigenizing self determined climate change futures”.  Her work has been shared through the IEJ project website https://iejproject.info.yorku.ca/and UKRI International Collaboration on Indigenous research https://www.indigenous.ncrm.ac.uk/.

SUGGESTED READINGS

Coming soon