“Living Hopkins” 2021 Roundtable

Black-Asian Solidarities: Confronting Anti-Black and Anti-Asian Racism

Thursday, November 4, 2021, 5:00pm–6:30pm

Hodson 210

Co-sponsored by the Critical Responses to Anti-Asian Violence Initiative (CRAAV)

The roundtable will feature faculty members at Johns Hopkins University from the social sciences and humanities: 

• Erin Aeran Chung (Political Science), 
• H. Yumi Kim (History), 
• Minkah Makalani (Center for Africana Studies and History),
• Robbie Shilliam (Political Science). 

Speakers will discuss how their current research on race and racism traverses local and global contexts and how such research can be leveraged for political projects of anti-racist solidarity-building across different constituencies. The discussion will be moderated by Quinn Lester, doctoral candidate in Political Science.

About this Roundtable

Since the emergence of the COVID-19 pandemic and post-truth discourses surrounding its origins and the growth of global Black Lives Matter protests in response to the daylight murder of George Floyd, the world has witnessed a massive surge in anti-Black and anti-Asian sentiment, as well as mass demonstrations of anti-racist solidarity. Incidents of racialized violence against Black and Asian peoples, enduring feelings of racialized resentment, and widespread resistance to racism define the social, political, and affective landscapes of our present moment. How does emerging scholarship in the humanities and social sciences explain these social and political trends? In what ways might humanistic thought contribute to political projects that dismantle racism and build up anti-racist solidarities? The Program in Racism, Immigration, and Citizenship at Johns Hopkins University will hold its annual Living Hopkins Roundtable to address these urgent questions.

The 2021 roundtable seeks to advance the comparative and global study of racial politics through an emphasis on the relations between racialized groups within the United States and beyond. Specifically, the roundtable will explore the historical tensions between Black and Asian communities within various localized contexts, as well as alliances and camaraderie across these differences, helping to develop visions of global, anti-racist solidarity against the rising tide of white supremacy. The roundtable discussion will consider how anti-Black and anti-Asian Racism have historically played out in Baltimore, interrogating the role of institutions such as Johns Hopkins in structuring and enabling the perpetuation of such forms of discrimination, as well as the possibilities of new institutional commitments to interrupt such racism. Panelists will also speak to the omnipresence of anti-Black and anti-Asian racism across the world as global structures of oppression, focusing on these dynamics across the Atlantic World, East Asia, and the Pacific.

COVID safety guidelines will be in place; in accordance with university policy, no food will be provided at the event. 

This event is open to faculty, undergraduate and graduate students, staff, and community members.