Media Release

December 3 2008

UniSA tackles the racism questions posed by a shrinking world

Anti-racism conference at UniSA The nature of racism and educational methods to address the problem will be the subject of an international conference held at the University of South Australia this Friday, December 5.

Coordinator of the conference, Associate Professor Rob Hattam at UniSA’s School of Education, said despite many gains, the problem of how to change racist attitudes through education remains.

“Research shows that fear, suspicion of racial and religious difference remains a real issue throughout the world, a problem that is compounded in many ways by the spread of modern communications technologies,” Prof Hattam said.

“The internet, while a magnificent asset for the spread of valuable information, has also proven to be a powerful tool for spreading messages of hate and incitement – message which previously may have been limited to specific cultural or geographic locations.

“We know that no amount of policing or military action alone can counter this problem, which is why a solution must be found in pedagogy, in the means and methods to educate,” Prof Hattam said.

“For this conference, we’ve brought together some of the foremost academics on the subject from around the world to tackle issues including the rise of new forms of racism, globalisation as ‘colonisation’ and the notion of race in the modern world.”

Speakers and topics for the conference are:

Thinking beyond race
Professor Pal Ahluwalia, University of South Australia

What’s anger got to do with it?: A post-indignation pedagogy for communities in conflict
Assistant Professor Michalinos Zembylas, Open University of Cyprus

Globalization as the ‘new’ colonization: Indigenous resistance
Associate Professor Sandy Grande, Connecticut College

Fabricating ‘Pacific Islander’: The pedagogy of expropriation, return and resistance and other lessons from a ‘Multicultural Day’
Professor Deborah Youdell, University of London

Futuring whiteness in education: Between reconstruction and abolition
Associate Professor Zeus Leonardo, University of California

The modern seduction of race: The whither social constructivism?
Professor Crain Soudien, University of Cape Town

“This conference is a meaningful way for UniSA to lead debate on this global, vitally important issue,” Assoc Prof Hattam said.

What: (Anti) Racism and Pedagogy Conference
A conference convened by the Hawke Research Institute for Sustainable Societies &
Yunggorendi First Nations Centre for Higher Education and Research

When: Friday 5 December, 9am -4pm

Where: Room H1-44, Amy Wheaton Building, UniSA Magill campus, St Bernard’s Rd, Magill

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