“The Diversity Bargain and Other Dilemmas of Race, Admissions, and Meritocracy at Elite Universities”

Dr. Natasha Warikoo will talk about her new book, The Diversity Bargain and Other Dilemmas of Race, Admissions, and Meritocracy at Elite Universities. Scheduled for publishing in October, The Diversity Bargain centers on debates around race relations and meritocracy (i.e. affirmative action) in higher education in the UK, with some references to the US as well.

This event is part of the CES 2016 Fall Friday Lecture Series.

Natasha Warikoo is Associate Professor of Education at the Harvard Graduate School of Education. She is an expert on the relationships between education, racial and ethnic diversity, and cultural processes in schools and universities. Her most recent book, The Diversity Bargain: And Other Dilemmas of Race, Admissions, and Meritocracy at Elite Universities illuminates how undergraduates attending Ivy League universities and Oxford University conceptualize race and meritocracy. The book emphasizes the contradictions, moral conundrums, and tensions on campus related to affirmative action and diversity, and how these vary across racial and national lines. Her first book, Balancing Acts: Youth Culture in the Global City, analyzes youth culture among children of immigrants attending low-performing high schools in New York City and London. Balancing Actswon the Thomas and Znaneicki Best Book Award from the American Sociological Association’s International Migration Section.

Warikoo’s research has been published in the American Journal of Education; British Education Research Journal; Poetics; Race, Ethnicity and Education; Ethnic and Racial Studies (also here); Review of Educational Research; Sociological Forum), Education Week, The Los Angeles Times, and The Washington Post), and she has won grants and awards from American Sociological Association, the British Academy, National Science Foundation, Nuffield Foundation, and Russell Sage Foundation. Her recent articles can be accessed for free here.

Warikoo teaches courses on racial inequality and the role of culture in K-12 and higher education. Warikoo was a teacher in New York City’s public schools for four years, and also spent time working at the U.S. Department of Education and as a fellow with the Teachers Network Leadership Institute. Warikoo completed her Ph.D. in sociology from Harvard University, and B.Sc. and B.A. in mathematics and philosophy at Brown University.

Acknowledgement of Support: This event has been produced with the assistance of the European Union. The contents of this event are the sole responsibility of The UNC Center for European Studies and can in no way be taken to reflect the views of the European Union.