Uploaded December 2016 | Updated September 2026, 5 hours ago
In 1993, the Harvard Law Review published Cheryl Harris's now seminal article, Whiteness as Property. Over the past two decades, the article has had tremendous impact inside and outside of legal academia, as well as within and beyond the borders of the United States. Broadly articulated, the purpose of this conference is to map and critically examine this impact. More precisely, the conference will explore the multiple trajectories along which Whiteness as Property has travelled and query whether and to what extent its conceptual framework has been re-constituted or re-articulated in the process. Over two and a half days, the conference will reflect on the political, legal, and intellectual context out of which Whiteness as Property emerged, explore how, if at all, its theoretical arguments have been revised, interrogate the impact of Whiteness as Property across academic disciplines, consider its relevance for a range of civil rights debates, as well as its implications globally, and examine the mobilization of the ideas in Whiteness as Property as pedagogy, legal practice, and social movement organizing. Our hope is to foster a conversation not only about where Whiteness as Property has gone but also about where it might have traction and still needs to go.
Video Credit:
Asher Underwood / Aaron Jacob
EvolvingGraphics.com
Jasleen Kohli (Program Director, Critical Race Studies Program, UCLA School of Law)
Dean Rachel Moran, Dean and Michael J. Connell Distinguished Professor of Law, UCLA School of Law
M. Belinda Tucker, Professor of Psychiatry and Biobehavioral Sciences, Center for Culture and Health, Semel Institute for Neuroscience and Human Behavior, David Geffen School of Medicine, Vice Provost, Institute of American Cultures, Faculty Associate, Bunche Center for African American Studies, UCLA
In 1993, the Harvard Law Review published Cheryl Harris's now seminal article, Whiteness as Property. Over the past two decades, the article has had tremendous impact inside and outside of legal academia, as well as within and beyond the borders of the United States. Broadly articulated, the purpose of this conference is to map and critically examine this impact. More precisely, the conference will explore the multiple trajectories along which Whiteness as Property has travelled and query whether and to what extent its conceptual framework has been re-constituted or re-articulated in the process. Over two and a half days, the conference will reflect on the political, legal, and intellectual context out of which Whiteness as Property emerged, explore how, if at all, its theoretical arguments have been revised, interrogate the impact of Whiteness as Property across academic disciplines, consider its relevance for a range of civil rights debates, as well as its implications globally, and examine the mobilization of the ideas in Whiteness as Property as pedagogy, legal practice, and social movement organizing. Our hope is to foster a conversation not only about where Whiteness as Property has gone but also about where it might have traction and still needs to go.
Video Credit:
Asher Underwood / Aaron Jacob
EvolvingGraphics.com
Jasleen Kohli (Program Director, Critical Race Studies Program, UCLA School of Law)
Dean Rachel Moran, Dean and Michael J. Connell Distinguished Professor of Law, UCLA School of Law
M. Belinda Tucker, Professor of Psychiatry and Biobehavioral Sciences, Center for Culture and Health, Semel Institute for Neuroscience and Human Behavior, David Geffen School of Medicine, Vice Provost, Institute of American Cultures, Faculty Associate, Bunche Center for African American Studies, UCLA
