In collaboration with the YWCA, the SIUE Sociology Program and Club are hosting a Witnessing Whiteness group for faculty and staff members.
Since 2011, the YWCA has been sponsoring Witnessing Whiteness groups as part of its mission to eliminate racism. Witnessing Whiteness (WW) groups are white people coming together to do work around racism in a supportive, non-threatening setting. It is about learning to speak about race and racism, explore white privilege and learn what ally work looks like.
WW groups are designed for individuals who identify as white. The groups have been successfully launched at Washington University Saint Louis and featured on St. Louis Public Radio.
The work of WW groups draws on the book Witnessing Whiteness: The Need to Talk About Race and How to Do It. While group sessions draw on the book, the work is about participants’ own lives, not textual analysis.
During group meetings, participants consider their own lives in light of what they are learning through individual reflection, as well as exercises that occur in pairs, triads and the entire group.
Members of the book club will meet weekly:
1-3 p.m.
Thursdays, Sept. 1-Dec. 8
Morris University Center Missouri Room
The Sociology Department and Sociology Club would like to extend a special thank you to the Office of the Provost for its financial support of this special programming. Due to this assistance, books for this program will come at no cost to the participants.