A three-day Duke University conference will feature two keynote speakers on social inequality in the United States.The conference, Dissecting Inequality: Disparity and Difference in the 21st Century, kicks off with a 5:30 p.m. reception Tuesday, March 24, in the Richard White Lecture Hall on Duke’s East Campus.Following the reception, author and activist Barbara Ehrenreich, best known for her book, “Nickel and Dimed: On (Not) Getting By in America,” will deliver a keynote address at 6 p.m. Ehrenreich will sign copies of her seminal book and her most recent work, “Living With a Wild God.”The conference, organized by Duke’s Research Network on Racial and Ethnic Inequality, is free and open to the public, though registration is encouraged at http://tinyurl.com/dissectinginequality.The conference will bring together an interdisciplinary group of scholars from the fields of health, education, economics, culture and law to discuss the scientific nature of inequality. During a series of panel discussions on Wednesday and Thursday, the scholars will share current knowledge about the state of inequality and work to develop a new research agenda on economic inequality. Other highlights from the conference include: --7:30 p.m., Tuesday, March 24East Duke 209Dance presentation by SLIPPAGE, a dance company led by Thomas DeFrantz, chair of Duke’s African & African American Studies department.--12:30 p.m. Wednesday, March 25Jameson Art Gallery, Friedl Building, East CampusPresentation by members of the Cook family, “The Contributions of Samuel DuBois Cook,” Duke’s first tenured black faculty member and former president of Dillard University.--10:45 a.m. Thursday, March 26Rhodes Conference Room, Sanford School of Public PolicyTwo university presidents -- from Rutgers University and the University of Michigan, Dearborn -- will discuss “Higher Education, Equity and Access.”“The conference is intended to bring a vertically integrated community of researchers -- ranging from undergraduates to senior scholars -- together to develop the agenda for the next generation of research on inequality,” said William “Sandy” Darity, co-director of the Research Network and event organizer.
Closing keynote speaker Jennifer Eberhardt
The closing keynote speaker, social psychologist Jennifer Eberhardt from Stanford University, will give a talk titled “Policing and Protecting Black Lives in the 21st Century” at 6 p.m. Thursday, March 26. Her talk will follow a reception in Rhodes Conference Room in the Sanford School of Public Policy. Eberhardt works with law enforcement agencies to design interventions to improve policing and help agencies build and maintain trust with the communities they serve.“Our keynote speakers are among the most creative investigators of the scope of disparities in America by class and by race. Barbara Ehrenreich is the noted author of the superb study of the conditions confronting low-wage workers,” Darity said.“Jennifer Eberhardt’s work is especially timely in light of the attention being drawn to police homicides of black men and women. Both will help us learn much more about life in America, inspire the conferees to identify new directions for research on inequality, and provide moral beacons for social change,” he said.For a full list of speakers and more information about the conference, visit socialequity.duke.edu or email socialequity@duke.edu.