Thesis Eleven Centre for Cultural Sociology and the Department of Social Inquiry present: Sisonke Msimang

Sook and Tired: A conversation about race and the media

In the last few years, questions of racial justice have re-emerged in America, South Africa and Australia.  This conversation will look at media coverage of police brutality against African-Americans, and the #BlackLivesMatter protest movement that has developed in response.  We will then look at media coverage of events in South Africa as it has grappled with the end of the ‘non-racial’ era and the emergence of the movement to tear down statues of John Cecil Rhodes and other colonial figures, before turning our attention to how Australia talks about race and racism, as exemplified by the Adam Goodes case.

Wednesday, March 23rd 1230pm—2pm
488 Martin Building, La Trobe University

Sisonke Msimang writes about race, gender and justice.  She writes regularly for the New York Times, and has been published widely including in The Guardian, the Christian Science Monitor and the Huffington Post.  Msimang has held a range of fellowships, including from Yale University  (2012), the Aspen Institute (2014) and the University of Witwatersrand, in South Africa.  She has worked for the United Nations and was the head of the Soros Foundation’s Southern Africa office from 2008 – 2012.  Msimang is on the Rhodes Scholarship Selection Committee and sits on the board of the New York-based International Women’s Health Coalition