White Sanctuary Spaces
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Dr. Embrick will be presenting on his work regarding White Sanctuary Spaces.
In this talk, Embrick introduces the notion of white sanctuaries as white spaces that help maintain white normativity and supremacy but also reify whites’ sense of power, belonging, and entitlement in racialized societies.
Using three internationally respected museums (Art Institute of Chicago, Boston Museum of Fine Arts, and the Museo Nacional d’Art de Catalunya) as collaborative ethnographic case studies, the purpose of this talk is to highlight the racial mechanisms by which these spaces (museums) create and maintain their exclusive white spaces within the context of being an institution for the general public. Specially discussed are issues of spatiality, policing, and management of access.
This event is sponsored by the Department of Sociology, the Levermore Global Scholars Program, and the African, Black and Caribbean Studies Program.
About the Speaker
David G. Embrick
Professor of Sociology and Africana Studies
Dr. David G. Embrick holds a joint position as Associate Professor in the Sociology Department and African Studies Institute at the University of Connecticut. Prior to UConn, he spent a decade at Loyola University Chicago as faculty in the Sociology Department. He received his Ph.D. from Texas A&M University in 2006. He is a former American Sociological Association Minority Fellow; Past-President of the Southwestern Sociological Association; current Vice President of the Society for the Study of Social Problems; and current President of the Association for Humanist Sociology. In addition, Dr. Embrick serves as the Founding Co-Editor of Sociology of Race and Ethnicity; Founding Book Series Editor of Sociology of Diversity, with Bristol University Press; and Founding Book Series Co-Editor of Sociology of Race and Ethnicity, with Georgia University Press.
Dr. Embrick’s research has centered largely on the impact of contemporary forms of racism on people of color. While most of his research is one what he has labeled “diversity ideology” and inequalities in the business world, he has published on race and education, racial microaggressions, the impact of schools-welfare-and prisons on people of color, and issues of sex discrimination. Dr. Embrick has published in a number of journals including American Behavioral Scientist, Critical Sociology, Race and Society, Sex Roles, Social Problems, Sociological Forum, and Symbolic Interaction, among others. He has been invited to give talks and workshops on diversity; racism in the workplace; racism and space; racial microaggressions; and various issues of academic professionalism in over 125 venues, both academic and public.
Notable Academic Leadership and Service Positions
- Senior Research Specialist: 2017-18, Institute on Race Relations and Public Policy (IRRPP), University of Chicago at Illinois
- Visiting Scholar: 2017, American Bar Foundation, Chicago
- President: 2018, Association for Humanist Sociology
- Vice President: 2018, Society for the Study of Social Problems
- Past-President, Southwestern Sociological Association
- Founding Co-Editor: ASA SREM Journal: Sociology of Race and Ethnicity
- Founding Series Editor: Sociology of Diversity, Bristol University Press
- Founding Co-Series Editor: Sociology of Race and Ethnicity, Georgia University Press