Equal Opportunities Day 2024 – On Linguistic Taboos and Perceptions
Welcome to this year’s Equal Opportunities Day on October 23rd. The event is held in Swedish and it is aimed at both students and employees. The theme for the day is “Can You Say Black? From Theoretical Anxiety to Terminological Security.”
The title is the same as of the book written by this year’s guest, Barakat Ghebrehawariat. Barakat Ghebrehawariat is a lecturer, advisor, and educator with extensive experience working with diversity from a communication perspective. With studies in political science and journalism, he uses both research and personal experiences to address various questions: What is meant by the norm of whiteness? How is the concept of racialization used? How come people born in Sweden can be called immigrants? Is it called a refugee or people on the run? What “can” you say and does it matter who says what?
Silence is Not Golden
It’s easy to feel lost in the jungle of terms, and many are afraid of saying the wrong thing in a fast-paced Twitter world that unfolds in real-time. This anxiety has aptly been named “theoretical anxiety.” But how do we alleviate our theoretical anxiety? The remedy is not to talk less. On the contrary, we need to communicate more. More inclusively. It’s not about stopping saying “wrong” things but about starting to do the right thing. How do we do that?
The afternoon will be opened by Vice-Chancellor Anders Fällström and will conclude with a Q&A session with Barakat.
When: October 23rd, 1:00 PM – 3:00 PM
Where: Campus Östersund, Room F229
The day will also be livestreamed on the intranet for those who cannot attend in person: miun.se/lika-villkorsdag-2024