Differential Colourism: A conversation

Too frequently, women of colour and their lived experience of racialised abuse is excluded from dominant discourse, and colourism as a form of racialised abuse is seldom understood. As such, by centring the voices of two women of colour, this seminar will undergo a dialogue regarding personal experiences of colourism from a Black British and Indian contextualisation. The dialogue will detail what colourism is, how colourism has manifested in the speakers’ lives, and provide an in-depth analysis of what is theorised as ‘differential colourism’: that is, the ways in which experiences of colourisms are contingent on the intersection of race and gender. Furthermore, the seminar will include discussions around caste, skin tone preferences and the use of the word ‘Brown’ from an Indian context, as well as discussions of colourist abuse, skin-lightening, anti-Blackness, and erasure from a Black British context; thus, providing a two-dimensional analysis of the problematic nature of colourism. In doing so, the speakers will make a link with how colourism has always been ingrained within colonial imperialism. This seminar encourages the viewers to think critically about their own understanding of colourism and aims to raise an important point: namely, the need to include differential experiences of colourism in discussions of race, racism, and experiences of racial inequalities in the social world.

Chair:

• Alishya Dhir, Teaching Fellow and Postgraduate Researcher, Department of Sociology, Durham University

Speakers:

• Ayurshi Dutt, Postgraduate Researcher, Department of Sociology, Durham University
• Morise Ogunyimika, Postgraduate Researcher, Department of Sociology, Durham University