Dismantling DEI and What Remains: How Diversity Ideology affects Employees of Color

Abstract:

In this tumultuous environment, some workplaces are doubling down on DEI programs while others are abandoning them altogether. Will either approach result in racial justice for employees of color? In this talk, Oneya Fennell Okuwobi will share findings from her recent book, Who Pays for Diversity?, to reveal how diversity initiatives harm employees of color by turning them into commodities for the benefit of their employers, what the current landscape might tell us, and what to do next.

Speaker Bio:

Assistant Professor Oneya Okuwobi is a critical diversity scholar with expertise in both qualitative and quantitative methods. She theoretically examines how organizational processes reproduce inequality with a substantive focus on people of color involved in diverse groups, organizations, and institutions. Oneya's research integrates the sociology of race, organizations, and religion to interrogate the effects of diversity practices in organizations. In particular, she centers the experiences of people of color to portray in rich detail the hidden causes and lasting effects of workplace inequality.