Diversity Lab - Images of Solidarity: The College Dropout, Nike, and Neoliberalism

Facilitator: Kiera Boult
September 20 - 1-3 PM (Lakeshore Campus - L1002)
September 27 - 1-3 PM (North Campus - LRC Atrium)

How long can social justice movements or efforts last when it gets tied into money and politics? This session will explore who benefits by using the language and imagery of equity and inclusion. We’ll ask questions about how corporations appropriate liberal values to profit from new audiences and consumers on the political Left. Using Kanye West’s early album The College Dropout and his changing views since then, Nike’s ad with Colin Kaepernick, and the ban on drinking straws as starting points, we will talk through questions of integrity when resistance becomes a commodity.