December 2-3, 2005

Lipman Room, Barrows Hall
University of California Berkeley

The Hierarchies of Color Conference is designed to bring together scholars to examine the social, cultural, and economic significance of skin color and of social hierarchy based on skin tone. We seek to explore colorism not in isolation, but in its intersection and entanglements with other forms of social hierarchy based on gender, caste, class, sexuality, and race. We also aim to take a historical comparative approach that uncovers general patterns across societies as well as historical and cultural specificities and differences across cultures.

With the breakdown of traditional racial categories in many areas of the world, we see colorism as a persisting frontier of inter and intra-group relations in the 21st century. Studies have documented discrimination against darker skinned persons within ethnic and racial communities and show a correlation between skin tone and socioeconomic status and achievement in many societies. Psychological experiments have shown a close relation between perception of an individual’s skin color and judgments about that individual’s intelligence, character, and attractiveness. The privileging of light skin is also manifested in the widespread use of skin lightening and skin bleaching products, especially by women between the ages of 16 and 35, despite the serious health risks posed.

In contrast to race, conceptualized as discrete and fixed (e.g. black/white), skin color is arrayed along a continuum that cross-cuts racial categories. The intersection of race and color creates complex hierarchies both within and between racial/ethnic communities. In some societies, such as the U.S., notions of belonging and peoplehood historically have been tied to forms of racial categorization rooted in the discourse and ideology of white supremacy. Race, understood in terms of mutual exclusivity, serves as the basis for particular and unique forms of segregation maintained through the principle of hypodescent. In other societies, such as Brazil, notions of belonging and peoplehood are organized around tropes of racial hybridity. Racial democracy as the organizing principle of the nation state is publicized, legitimized and institutionalized around representations and practices of cross-racial intimacy. Yet, despite the latter’s legitimacy, the emergent hybridities remain ordered hierarchically around distinctions of color.

Plenary Speakers:
Angela Harris, Boalt Hall School of Law, UC Berkeley
John Lie, Dean, International Area Studies, UCB

FRIDAY, DECEMBER 2, 2005
Lipman Room, Barrows Hall

Coffee and Greetings 8:30 a.m.

WELCOME AND OPENING REMARKS
9:00 a.m.
Robert Birgeneau, Chancellor of the University of California, Berkeley

PANEL I
9:15-10:45 a.m.
Colonialism and the Development of Color Consciousness

David Theo Goldberg, UC Humanities Research Institute, and African American Studies, UC Irvine
"Like, No Like: Color, Coding and Classification"

Philomena Essed, Critical Race, Gender and Leadership Studies, Antioch University
“Color Evasion: The Dutch Solution?”

Commentator: Paola Bacchetta, Gender and Women’s Studies, UC Berkeley

PANEL II
11:00-12:30 p.m.
Hybridity, Racial Democracy, and Colorism

Edward Telles, Sociology, UCLA
"Race and Color: Fuzzy Concepts Lost in Translation"

Lourdes Martínez-Echazábal, Literature, UC Santa Cruz
"'Cuban Color' Revisited"

Commentator: Stephen Small, African American Studies, UC Berkeley

Lunch Break 12:30-2:00 p.m.

PANEL III
2:00-3:30 p.m.
Colorism Within and Between Communities

Verna Keith, Sociology, Arizona State University
“A Colorstruck World: Colorism, Racism, and Sexism in the Lives of African American Women”

Eduardo Bonilla-Silva, Sociology, Duke University
“E Pluribus Unum at the Bottom of the New Amerika: Racial Justice in a Latin America-like USA"

Commentator: Waldo Martin, History, UC Berkeley

PANEL IV
3 :45-5:15 p.m.
Color Hierarchy in Diasporic Communities

Aisha Khan, Anthropology, NYU
"Caucasian," "Coolie," "Black," or "White"?: The Conundrum of Color in the Indo-Caribbean Diaspora”

Robyn Magalit Rodriguez, Sociology, Rutgers University
"Embodying Migration: Color and Class Amongst Filipina Return Migrants in the Philippines"

Percy Hintzen, African American Studies, UC Berkeley
"Color, Creolization and the Carribbean"

Commentator: David Palumbo-Liu, Comparative Literature, Stanford University

Reception-Dinner for Conference Speakers 6:30 p.m.

SATURDAY, DECEMBER 3, 2005
Lipman Room, Barrows Hall

Coffee 8:30 a.m.

PANEL V
9:15-10:45 a.m.
Skin Color, Beauty, Sexuality and Desire

Kamala Kempadoo, Social Sciences, York University, Toronto
“Sexual Labor and Color: Hierarchies in the Global Sex Trade”

Maxine Craig, Sociology and Social Services at CSU East Bay
“Colorism and Conflict in Beauty Pageants”

Jyotsna Vaid, Psychology, Texas A&M University
“Fair enough?: Color and the Commodification of Self in Indian Matrimonials”

Commentator: Philomenia Essed, Critical Race, Gender and Leadership Studies, Antioch University

PANEL VI
11:00-12:30 p.m.
Lightening By Any Means: Cosmetic, Chemical & Genetic Interventions

Evelyn Nakano Glenn, Ethnic Studies and Gender and Women’s Studies,UCB
“Yearning for Lightness: Global Circuits in the Production and Marketing of Skin Whiteners”

Joanne Rondilla, Ethnic Studies, UC Berkeley
“‘Serious About Brightening Their Skin’: Skin Lightening Advertisements in the Philippines and the US”

Charis Thompson, Rhetoric and Gender and Women’s Studies, UCB
“Hierarchies of Color in Gamete and Embryo Gift and Market Economies”

Commentator: Gina Dent, Feminist Studies, UC Santa Cruz


Lunch Break 12:30-2:00 p.m.

PANEL VII
2:00-3:30 p.m.
Colorism and the Law

Trina Jones, Duke University School of Law
“The Final Frontier: Legal Recognition of Color Discrimination Claims”

Taunya Lovell Banks, University of Maryland School of Law
“Black and White Justice: The Law's Continued Resistance to Colorism Claims”

Tanya Hernandez, Rutgers Law School, Newark
“Latinos at Work: Employment Discrimination and the New Agents of Color Bias in the Workplace”

Closing Plenary
3 :45-5:15 p.m.
Looking Backward, Looking Forward

Angela Harris, Boalt Hall School of Law, UC Berkeley
Emerging Themes

John Lie, Dean, International Area Studies, UCB
Comparative Reflections

Reception 6:00-8:00 p.m.