Speaking to a half-full Salomon 101 Tuesday afternoon, three professors touched on topics ranging from the near-invisibility of the African-American female voter in the mass media's current election coverage to various aspects of identity politics in their discussion of gender and race in the 2008 presidential election.
The panel, sponsored by the Taubman Center for Public Policy, included Assistant Professor of Political Science Katrina Gamble and Professor of Africana Studies Tricia Rose MA'87 PhD'93, both from Brown, as well as Associate Professor of Political Science Ange-Marie Hancock, from the University of Southern California.
Associate Professor of Political Science Sharon Krause moderated the event, which gave professors a chance to speak on their own before letting audience members ask questions.
Gamble acknowledged that this election season is a chance to begin serious discourse on race and gender, but said that most discussions on the topic ignore the intersectionality of race, class and gender. When media coverage refers to the "women's vote," she said, it often ignores women of color.
Gamble also discussed how references to the "working class" vote tend to ignore people of color, often largely referring to white workers.
She also said that so much focus has been put on the historical aspects of the nominations that much of the substance on the topic of race and gender has "been lost" over the past two years of campaigning.
"Beyond the symbolism, what does it mean for a black man to receive the Democratic nomination for the United States presidency? What does it mean for American women to have a woman on the Republican ticket?" Gamble asked.
Rose later touched on the same subject when she spoke, asking what real structural changes would be ushered in with the first black president or the first female vice president.
"If we can't make those changes, then this symbolism is a bait- and-switch," she said.
Rose, who said she was "deeply saddened by the trajectory of the elections," focused largely on the idea of the post-racial environment in which the elections seem to be taking place.
"We're not post-racial structural inequality, we're not post-white substantial advantage across class, mind you, but we're post-race," she said. "Which means we're post-talking about racism."
She mentioned that the seemingly "post-civil rights, post-racial, non-gendered" environment of the election has made it difficult for politicians of color to pursue effectively progressive politics.
"(Sen. Barack Obama) is black, but he can't talk about race," she said. "He can't mention racial inequality in any meaningful way, he can't address the complexities of that condition, for fear that he might be black."
Rose applied the same idea to Sen. Hillary Clinton's primary campaign, saying Clinton could not fully address gender inequalities because she might have been seen as having a "feminist agenda."
Hancock also talked about the Democratic primary season, which she said "fractured the conversation among women, instead of bringing them together."
Hancock then touched upon Obama and his place within "new black politics," an idea discussed at length in an Aug. 6 New York Times Magazine article.
While a number of new black politicians seem to operate in a "raceless" context because of this idea, she said, such things as the constant "whisper campaigns" about Obama's faith, a recent poll about his standing among Jewish voters in Florida and his own life story "necessitate attention to him as a racial-biased candidate."
She also insisted that the idea of "new black politics" must pay attention to the intersectionality of race, gender, class, age and generational status, noting that media coverage of the phenomenon ignored the presence of powerful black, female politicians, such as San Francisco District Attorney Kamala Harris.
Once the floor was opened to the audience, several people asked questions, including Rakim Brooks '09, who asked how positive and productive discussions of identity politics should begin.
In her response to the question, Rose mentioned forcing the recognition of whiteness in identity politics and getting rid of the idea that "whiteness" is completely neutral and does not deserve to be interrogated.
Kelly Eng '11, who asked panelists a question about the effect that Obama's father's history as an African would have on his ability to relate to African-Americans who have been here for generations, said she found the panel eye-opening.
"They were having a conversation that you really don't see in mainstream media," she said. "I had never thought about it before - race and gender has been regarded as this 800-pound gorilla in the room."
