White Privilege Meets Interracial Adoption: Comments and Conversation

As part of the Higgins Faculty Series for this semester’s dialogue symposium sponsored by the Higgins School of Humanities, our department’s own Professor Fern Johnson will be giving a talk with her partner, Professor Marlene Fine of Simmons College, on the topic of interracial adoption.  The talk will be held on Thursday, April 3^rd at 4pm in the Higgins Lounge at Dana Commons.

Fern Johnson and Marlene Fine will talk about their perspectives on white privilege as the white parents of two adopted African American children. They are the authors of The Interracial Adoption Option: Creating a Family Across Race (Jessica Kingsley Publishers, 2013).  The book provides a beginning point for the white person who is contemplating or already has adopted a child of another race, but it is also a commentary on how blinded white persons- even those who have studied race- can be to the everyday realities of race.  The topic of interracial adoption remains charged, but it is taking on new meanings as our society becomes more multi-racial.

 

To see an article coauthored by Professors Johnson and Fine, see When White Parents Have 'The Talk' With Black Sons.

To listen to the authors discuss their new book, check out a talk they gave with Radio Boston, The Interracial Adoption Option.