Alternative Frameworks for Understanding and Addressing Systemic Inequities
Date
Wednesday, March 13
12:30pm-4:00pm
Presenter(s)
Vidhya Shanker
Rainbow Research
Vidhya Shanker has a Bachelor of Fine Arts and BA in Art History from the University of Michigan and a Master’s of Public Affairs in Nonprofit Management, with a secondary concentration in Race, Class, & Gender in Global Perspective, from the Humphrey School. She is currently completing her doctorate in Evaluation Studies at the University of Minnesota, where her dissertation research examines the ways that race is constructed in and through evaluation. Whether independently, with small nonprofits like Rainbow Research, large nonprofits like Catholic Charities, or governments like Ramsey County, Vidhya has evaluated programs focused on poverty, racial, and gender disparities, and other forms of inequity domestically and internationally. Seeing evaluation as a type of critical reflection that is part of contemplative spiritual practice, she offers her insights and skills in the service of constituent-led movements for self-determination.
Description
Through mini-lectures, video clips, and small and large group activities, participants will explore alternatives to diversity, culture, and inclusion for understanding and addressing persistent disparities, disproportionalities, and systemic inequity. Specifically, three alternative frameworks will broaden our understanding and interventions beyond individuals to consider structural dynamics within and among institutions. Intended for those whose experience of inequity and whose hunger for racial and economic justice has not been sated by diversity, culture, and inclusion efforts, this session includes a bit of a choose-your-own-adventure in terms of its culminating experiential activity.
Purpose
- Gain a critical understanding of difference
- Develop an awareness of the role of time, structurally mediated socio-economic relations, and asymmetrical decision-making processes in producing racialized difference.