AMY ESHLEMAN, Associate Professor of Psychology (esh@wagner.edu)
“Seeing White: An Introduction to White Privilege and Race” (2011), by Amy Eshleman and former Wagner faculty members Jean Halley and Ramya Vijaya, focuses on examining “whiteness” as the line of demarcation between a dominant group whose members enjoy a set of cultural, social and economic privileges — and everyone else, for whom access to those privileges is either denied or restricted. Amy Eshleman has provided insight and context on the subjects of race and white privilege in numerous interviews and op-ed essays since their book was published in July 2011:
- Aug. 11, 2011 — Amy Eshleman and Jean Halley were interviewed by Richard Baker for Kansas Public Radio’s “Perspective” program. The program was titled, “The Advantage of Being White.” LISTEN HERE
- Sept. 5, 2011 — For Labor Day, the authors of "Seeing White" wrote an op-ed essay distributed throughout the northeast by the Wagner College News Service, entitled "Equality of Privilege: A Labor Day Essay." READ HERE
- Oct. 19, 2011 — Amy Eshleman and Jean Halley made a presentation to Wagner College’s Faculty Forum about their new book, “Seeing White: An Introduction to White Privilege and Race,” and the challenge of teaching about race in predominantly white undergraduate classrooms. WATCH HERE
- Feb. 2, 2012 — In January, after a news story ran in the Portland Tribune about a program in the Portland Public Schools to train faculty and administrators to recognize white privilege, the editors invited Amy Eshleman and Jean Halley to write on op-ed essay, "White Privilege Blinds us to Change." READ HERE
- Feb. 12, 2012 — An interview with Amy Eshleman and Jean Halley was aired on “Open Mind” with host Cecilia Skidmore, carried on Michigan public radio station WGVU. LISTEN HERE
- May 3, 2012 — Charlotte Crockford, host of the radio program, “Feminist Edition,” interviewed Amy Eshleman and Jean Halley about their book, “Seeing White: An Introduction to White Privilege and Race.” The program airs on WUML-FM, Lowell, Mass. LISTEN
- June 17, 2012 — Mark Judson Helpsmeet of Northern Spirit Radio, whose programs are syndicated on the Pacifica radio network, aired a 55-minute interview with Amy Eshleman and Jean Halley. LISTEN HERE
AMY ESHLEMAN is an associate professor of psychology at Wagner College. She regularly teaches courses on race, class, gender and sexuality in which she shares with students her research on expressions of prejudice. She holds a Ph.D. from the University of Kansas.
JEAN HALLEY, a faculty member at the College of Staten Island, served for 9 years as a sociology professor at Wagner College. She wrote “Boundaries of Touch: Parenting and Adult-Child Intimacy” (2007) and co-edited “The Affective Turn: Theorizing the Social” (2007). Her next book, “The Parallel Lives of Women and Cows: Meat Markets,” is a memoir and social history (Palgrave Macmillan, forthcoming 2012). Halley holds a Ph.D. in sociology from the CUNY Graduate Center and a master’s degree in theology from Harvard University.
RAMYA VIJAYA is an associate professor of economics at Richard Stockton College of New Jersey. At Stockton, besides courses in economics, she also teaches interdisciplinary courses on gender, inequality and diversity issues. Her research is in the area of labor markets, globalization and feminist political economy. She has published multiple articles on the impact of globalization on labor and on feminist perspectives in economics. Vijaya holds a Ph.D. in economics from American University.