We Need To Talk About Whiteness - with Dr Priyamvada Gopal

Episode 3 - The Whiteness of History - You may know her from her legendary tweets and her powerful anti-racism stance - Dr Priyamvada Gopal is 'Reader in Anglophone and Related Literature' at the University of Cambridge - an academic and contributor to public debates over racial inequality and the legacy of empire, her latest book "Insurgent Empire" (Verso, 2019) presents how Britain’s enslaved and colonial subjects were - contrary to enduring depictions - active agents in their own liberation. In fact, she argues, they shaped British ideas of freedom and emancipation back in the United Kingdom. Dr Gopal has previously discussed white fragility, stating that a "way of deflecting engagement with race is to personalise matters" and in October this year (2019), she criticised the UK's Equality and Human Rights Commission’s Report, 'Tackling racial harassment: universities challenged' for failing to address the systemic disadvantages faced by BME students or how whiteness dominates power structures and pedagogy. Here we we talk about the legacy of colonial modes of thinking, empire state of mind and just how helpful whiteness can be to the prickly conversations around racism in the UK.