Scholar speaks about diversity

By Natalie Baker
Staff Writer

UNCP welcomed Dr. Margaret Anderson to GPAC on Feb. 16 to enlighten students on race, class and gender in America’s social structure.

Robert Canida, director of the Office of Multicultural and Minority Affairs, introduced Anderson as a “true scholar of diversity.”

Anderson is a professor of sociology and women’s studies at the University of Delaware and has written five books on the subject of race, class and gender.

Anderson won the 2004 Sociologists for Women Feminist Lecturer Award and is internationally recognized as a scholar of race, class and gender.

“Do we want a colorblind and gender blind society?” Anderson said.

This question was the main point to her lecture. There were three themes Anderson elaborated on:

• Race, class and gender are interrelated.

• Race, class and gender tend to be indivisible to us; inequality overlaps and intercepts.

• The benefits of diverse groups work to change social structure.

Anderson believes that people want a colorblind society but are reluctant to make it a reality. This is what Anderson refers to as “an illusion of inclusion.”

This means that even though society likes the idea of being color blind, the facts show minorities are still unable to pass the poverty level or “make it” like that of white men.

With the comprehension of these three themes and when we as a society begin to think collectively rather than individually, our social structure can improve, Anderson said.