“Whiteness as Property,” a seminal article by Cheryl Harris, the Rosalinde and Arthur Gilbert Foundation Chair in Civil Rights and Civil Liberties at UCLA School of Law, will be the focus of a Critical Race Studies Symposium at UCLA Law, Oct. 2-4.
In the two decades since the 1993 publication of “Whiteness as Property” in the Harvard Law Review, the article has had tremendous impact inside and outside of legal academia, as well as within and beyond the borders of the United States. The law school’s two-and-a-half-day conference will reflect on the political, legal and intellectual context out of which “Whiteness as Property” emerged; explore how, if at all, its theoretical arguments have been revised; interrogate the impact of the article across academic disciplines; consider its relevance for a range of civil rights debates, as well as its implications globally; and examine the mobilization of the ideas in the article as pedagogy, legal practice and social movement organizing.
Harris joined the UCLA Law faculty in 1998 and has continued to produce groundbreaking scholarship in the field of critical race theory, particularly engaging the issue of how racial frames shape our understanding and interpretation of significant events like Hurricane Katrina, admissions policies and anti-discrimination law. She has also lectured widely on issues of race and equality at leading institutions in the United States and abroad, including in Europe, South Africa, and Australia, and has been a frequent contributor to various media outlets on current events and cases involving race and equality.
Harris will deliver a keynote address on Saturday, Oct. 4 at 1:15 p.m. Find the complete program and registration information here.
