Join us for a talk by Kehinde Andrews about his new book, The Psychosis of Whiteness, an all-encompassing, insightful and wry look at living in a racist world, by a leading black British voice in the academy and in the media.
Take a step through the looking-glass to a strange land, one where Piers Morgan is a voice worth listening to about race, where white people buy self-help books to cope with their whiteness, where Boris Johnson and Donald Trump are seen by the majority of the population as 'the right (white) man for the job'. Perhaps you know it. All the inhabitants seem to be afflicted by serious delusions, like that racism doesn't exist and if it does it can be cured with a one-hour inclusion seminar, and bizarre collective hallucinations, like the widely held idea that Britain's only role in slavery was to abolish it.
But there is a serious side too. Black and brown people suffer from a greater number of mental health difficulties, caused in no small part by living in a racist society. Society cannot face up to the racism at its heart and in its history, so the delusions and hallucinations it conjures up to avoid doing so can only best be described as a psychosis, and the costs are being borne by the sons and daughters of that racist history.
Speaker
Professor Kehinde Andrews
Kehinde Andrews is the UK's first Professor of Black Studies, at Birmingham City University where he led the establishment of the first Black Studies programme in Europe, the Chair of the Harambee Organisation of Black Unity and editor in chief of Make It Plain. He is the author of Back to Black: retelling black radicalism for the 21st century and The New Age of Empire: how racism and colonialism still rule the world.
Discussant
Dr Sara Camacho Felix
Sara Camacho Felix was Assistant Professor (Education) and Programme Lead for the Atlantic Fellows in Social and Economic Equity programme. Her research and teaching focuses on reflexive pedagogies in higher education, the study of racial capitalism, and de/coloniality of knowledge.
Chair
Dr Maël Lavenaire
Maël Lavenaire is a Research Fellow in Racial Inequality at the Atlantic Fellows for Social and Economic Equity programme where he contributes to fellowship curriculum development, teaching, and mentoring. He also undertakes research on the AFSEE/III research programme Politics of Inequality.
Banner Image: Photo by James Eades on Unsplash