Presentations

The presentation provides a glimpse into strands of lesser-known history that have shaped this nation, illuminating the role of race in U.S. history. Specifically, audience members will be presented with a narrative that shows how Supreme Court decisions, immigration laws and Jim Crow policies contributed to the development of Whiteness in America and how these historical moments continue to shape our nation.

Christianity’s overwhelming social power shapes America today, even when religious discrimination is mistaken for racism or obscured in debates over immigration or national identity. Dr. Joshi presents the ways in which Christian privilege is embedded in U.S. policy, politics, and society’s rules and assumptions about who belongs and who doesn’t. Using data as well as personal stories Khyati Y. Joshi maps the origins of Christian privilege and the entwinement of Christianity and Whiteness in American national identity. She traces these phenomena from their European orientalist roots, to the American colonial era and Westward expansion, through 19th-century immigration and citizenship policies, to present-day social movements. Using the voices of Christians and religious minorities, Joshi explores the effects of Christian privilege and White racial norms on how all sorts of Americans live religion in the present day. In doing so, she poses and begins to answer the most urgent question Americans may face today: How to become a "more perfect union" – a religiously pluralistic democracy that leaves White Christian supremacy behind.

Race and Religion are central organizing principles of life in America, where we often promote the ideas of cultural and religious pluralism and simultaneously assert that we are a Christian nation. This presentation provides a short historical overview of the development of a White Christian Norm that is part of everyday America. The presentation then moves on to focus on the religious diversity in the US, with an emphasis on the lived experience of groups who are both religious and racial minorities.

Understanding the immigration debate today, means revisiting information from US History that most of us didn’t learn in school. This presentation provides explanations of key historical moments that illuminate points of the immigration debate of the past 20 years. Using anecdotes, Dr. Joshi explains the impacts of the laws on US society, including immigrant communities.

This presentation offers the latest statistics on the number and type of anti-Asian incidents across the United States related to the COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic, a global viral outbreak that has been demagogued with racist terms like “Chinese virus,” “Wuhan virus,” and “Kung Flu.” Prof. Joshi will contextualize this anti-Asian racism in U.S. history, showing how Chinese immigrants in particular have been seen as unclean and discrepant foreigners. She offers strategies for being an ally in combatting and interrupting anti-Asian prejudice in your community.

Often thought of only as a new "model minority," or as “forever foreigners,” Asian Americans in fact played key roles at pivotal moments throughout U.S. history. This presentation dispels myths and uses Asian American stories to illuminate how the regulation of immigration and citizenship, through public policy, court decisions, and popular beliefs, has shaped the United States today. This is an ideal presentation for Asian Pacific American History Month.

This presentation begins with a history of Asian Americans in the South, from Filipinos and Bengali Muslims in Louisiana, to Chinese in Mississippi, to Indian hoteliers, Cambodian refugees, and others. It continues in the present day, exploring race and racism as Asian Americans experience them. Asian Americans suffer invisible identities, confront stereotypes and face discrimination in the workplace and education that may not be recognized in places where the Black-White racial paradigm is so deep in the culture.

Knowledge and Skills are required to advance towards social justice.
Learning about Social Justice issues and taking action isn’t always conformable. Becoming aware of our own biases, and gaps of information can be uncomfortable. In this presentation, Dr. Joshi talks about a process to help individuals get comfortable with being uncomfortable.

Understanding Your Child’s Racial Identity Development is designed to encourage family conversations about social justice, social identity, and diversity. Dr. Joshi provides an overview of factors that help have a positive racial identity for all young people, one which promotes an outlook of social justice for our world. This is also an opportunity for parents to consider their own social identities, and how these identities affect the ways in which they view the world, their parenting practices, and their day-to-day experiences.