Crossing Racial and Social Divides

Wed, 07/27/2016 - 2:34pm

When: April 26, 2016 at Downtown Library Multi-Purpose Room

The United States is moving toward being a majority-minority country where less than half of our population will be classified as white. Already four states and the District of Columbia have more than 50% non-white populations, and, as of 2015, Nevada was evenly split white and non-white. A central question for our multiracial and multicultural United States is how to achieve both unity and appreciation for racial and ethnic diversity. The key is talking and collaborating across differences.

In this presentation, Dr. Patricia Gurin will describe the challenges we face in talking and collaborating with people whose racial/ethnic backgrounds and experiences differ from our own, and offer the example of intergroup dialogue as an effective practice for accomplishing it.

Patricia Gurin is the Nancy Cantor Distinguished University Professor Emerita of Psychology and Women’s Studies at the University of Michigan. She is a Faculty Associate of the Research Center for Group Dynamics at the Institute for Social Research and of the Center for African and Afro-American Studies, and she directs the research program of the Program on Intergroup Relations, a curricular program co-sponsored by the College of LS&A and the Division of Student Affairs. A social psychologist, Dr. Gurin’s work has focused on social identity, the role of social identity in political attitudes and behavior, motivation and cognition in achievement settings, and the role of social structure in intergroup relations.

This program is co-sponsored by the University of Michigan Department of Psychology.