UMN hosting prof to lecture on ‘the violence of whiteness’
The University of Minnesota has invited a professor dedicated to “dismantling whiteness” to speak next week on how whiteness is an “existential threat” to the United States.
“The Elephant in the Room: A ‘Grown Up’ Conversation about Whiteness” will be presented by Lisa Anderson-Levy, an Anthropology professor at Beloit College whose teaching philosophy is predicated on the belief that “teaching is a political act.”
"She argues that whiteness poses an existential threat to social, political, and economic life in the U.S." Tweet This
During her lecture, Anderson-Levy is slated to speak on a number of issues, including “the violence of whiteness” and how colleges and universities in the United States may be complicit in perpetuating this violence.
“This presentation explores the ubiquity and violence of whiteness and the ways in which academic institutions are poised to either reproduce or interrupt these discourses,” writes Anderson-Levy, referring to herself in the third person.
“She argues that whiteness poses an existential threat to social, political, and economic life in the U.S. and proposes that decentering whiteness is one of the most urgent social dilemmas of our time and demands our immediate attention,” the abstract adds.
Anderson-Levy will also speak on how college administrators can “decenter whiteness” at their institutions, “including in our budgets, our curricula, our disciplinary genealogies, our interactions with students, and our relationships with each other as colleagues.”
Though the lecture appears geared towards college administrators, students are welcome to attend, and UNM spokeswoman Emmalynn Bauer confirmed to Campus Reform that the university is indeed sponsoring the lecture.
“The ICGC Alumni Lecture Series is an opportunity to highlight successful alumni and allow current students to engage with them,” Bauer said in a statement.
Campus Reform reached out to Anderson-Levy multiple times for comment, but did not receive a response in time for publication. In her post at nearby Beloit College, her academic interests include “feminist anthropology” and “activist anthropology.”
She is also the co-leader on a $600,000 project to foster “diversity, inclusivity, and equity” at Beloit College, which was funded by the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation.
Follow the author of this article on Twitter: @Toni_Airaksinen
LISA ANDERSON-LEVY
General Interests
Feminist Anthropology; Activist Anthropology; Caribbean Anthropology; Critical Race Theory; Gender and Sexualities; Transnational Whiteness; Citizenship and Nationalism; Postcolonial Theory; Knowledge Production
Feminist Anthropology; Activist Anthropology; Caribbean Anthropology; Critical Race Theory; Gender and Sexualities; Transnational Whiteness; Citizenship and Nationalism; Postcolonial Theory; Knowledge Production
Professor at Beloit Since: 2008
EducationPh.D., Anthropology, Feminist Studies. 2008. University of Minnesota.
B.A., Anthropology and Women's Studies. 1998. Washington State University.
B.A., Anthropology and Women's Studies. 1998. Washington State University.
Teaching Philosophy
Teaching is a political act; one that transforms both teacher and student. Political because the production of knowledge involves choices about which voices get heard, which are suppressed, and which are ignored completely. Transformative because the dynamic nature of learning requires that all the participants in this process actively engage with each other, making the personal connections through which real learning occurs. My role as an educator is to lay the foundation for this learning experience through my choice of materials which reflect the diversity of scholarship in anthropology as well as other disciplines and to facilitate classroom engagements because it is through these connections that transformations occur.
Teaching is a political act; one that transforms both teacher and student. Political because the production of knowledge involves choices about which voices get heard, which are suppressed, and which are ignored completely. Transformative because the dynamic nature of learning requires that all the participants in this process actively engage with each other, making the personal connections through which real learning occurs. My role as an educator is to lay the foundation for this learning experience through my choice of materials which reflect the diversity of scholarship in anthropology as well as other disciplines and to facilitate classroom engagements because it is through these connections that transformations occur.
I view my roles as an educator and researcher as distinctive but with important points of overlap. As an educator, I facilitate classroom explorations. In my role as a researcher, my research, writing, and continuing development as a scholar reflect the dynamic relationship between the intellectual exchange of ideas with peers and students—inside and outside the classroom. Rather than competing interests, I see my roles as educator and researcher as being mutually complementary and supportive. I strive to provide a forum for open though difficult discussions of relevant social, economic, and political issues and employ a variety of teaching strategies to encourage students to explore, think through, and develop an understanding of the world around them. One of the more important aspects of this process is to promote a multifaceted examination of the fundamentality of diversity which is crucial to fostering a deeper awareness of the complexities of the spaces we inhabit.
Selected Professional Accomplishments:
Honors/Grants
2016-2019 Co-PI Mellon Foundation Grant for the Inclusive Leadership Project at Beloit College ($600,000)
2016-2019 Co-PI Mellon Foundation Grant for the Inclusive Leadership Project at Beloit College ($600,000)
2014-15 Co-PI Mellon Foundation Grant for Critical Engagement of Social Identities at Beloit College ($50,000)
2013 Beloit Rotary, Teacher of the Month Award
2012 Beloit College, Underkofler Undergraduate Teaching Award
2012 Vagina Warrior Award from Beloit College cast of Vagina Monologues
2004-2005 University of Minnesota, Doctoral Dissertation Fellowship
2004-2005 American Anthropological Association Minority Dissertation Fellowship
2001-2004 Ford Foundation Pre-Doctoral Fellowship for Minorities
2001-2002 P.E.O. (Philanthropic Educational Organization) Scholar Award
2000-2001 University of Minnesota, William W. Stout and Thomas F. Wallace Fellowship
1999 University Fellowship, University of Minnesota, The MacArthur Interdisciplinary Program on Global Change, Sustainability and Justice
1998-1999 University of Minnesota, Educational Opportunity Fellowship
1998 Washington State University, Phi Beta Kappa, Gamma Chapter Phi Beta Kappa National Honor Society
1998 Washington State University, College of Liberal Arts Distinguished Student Achievement Award
Publications:2014 “The End(s) of Difference? Towards an Understanding of the 'Post' in Post-Racial” in Race and the Obama Phenomenon: The Vision of a More Perfect Multiracial Union, edited by G. Reginald Daniels and Hettie V. Williams. University of Mississippi Press.
2012 “Feminist Anthropology” in Oxford Bibliographies Online: Anthropology www.oxfordbibliographies.com
2010 “An (Other) Ethnographic Dilemma: Subjectivity and the Predicament of Studying Up.” Transforming Anthropology Vol 18, No 2, October 2010.
2001 “Colliding/Colluding Identities: Race, Class, and Gender in Jamaican Family Systems.” In New Directions in Anthropological Kinship, ed. Linda Stone. Boulder: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, Inc.
BOOK REVIEW:
2008 Mindie Lazarus-Black’s Everyday Harm: Domestic Violence, Courts Rites, and Cultures of Reconciliation. Journal of Legal Anthropology Vol 1, No 1, November 2008.
2008 Mindie Lazarus-Black’s Everyday Harm: Domestic Violence, Courts Rites, and Cultures of Reconciliation. Journal of Legal Anthropology Vol 1, No 1, November 2008.
REVIEWER:
American Ethnologist
American Ethnologist
Selected Presentations:
2015 Roundtable on “‘This Too is Ferguson’: Denaturalizing Race in Service, Teaching, Mentoring and the Production of Knowledge by Anthropologists at the Margins.” American Anthropological Association Annual Meeting, Denver, November 2015.
2015 Roundtable on “‘This Too is Ferguson’: Denaturalizing Race in Service, Teaching, Mentoring and the Production of Knowledge by Anthropologists at the Margins.” American Anthropological Association Annual Meeting, Denver, November 2015.
2014 “Vulnerable Pedagogies” National Women’s Studies Association. San Juan, Puerto Rico, November 2014.
2013 Roundtable on “Decolonizing Feminist Anthropology – Where Are We and Where Do We Need to Go?” American Anthropological Association Annual Meeting, Chicago, November 2013.
2011 “White Nation in a Nation of Blacks: Indigeneity and Belonging Among White Jamaicans,” American Anthropological Association Annual Meeting, Montreal, November 2011.
2009 “The End(s) of Difference? Towards an Understanding of the “Post” in Post-Racial,” American Anthropological Association Annual Meeting, Philadelphia, December 2009.
2008 “Hyper-visible Invisibility in the Production of ‘Deviant’ and White Citizens in Jamaica,” American Anthropological Association Annual Meeting, San Francisco, November 2008.
2007 “Out of Many, Whitenesses in Jamaica: The Performance and Production of Difference,” American Anthropological Association Annual Meeting, Washington DC, November 2007.
Community Service:
2014-15 Organizer: “Disciplinary Histories” Faculty Forum Series
2014-15 Organizer: “Disciplinary Histories” Faculty Forum Series
2014 Keynote Address Baccalaureate
2014 Elected to the Beloit Board of Education
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