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Episode 10
Have you noticed that even in cultures that claim to “celebrate diversity,” people outside the mainstream are still asked to “tone down” their difference? Have you or someone you know been asked or coached not to be so ethnic/gay/female/religious/working class at work? Back in the 1960s, sociologist Erving Goffman coined the term “covering” for the ways in which people are pressured to downplay stigmatized identities, often at great cost to their authentic selves. Drawing on that work, Kenji Yoshino, a professor of law and former deputy dean at Yale Law School, has written a book titled “Covering: The Hidden Assault on Our Civil Rights.” He joins Diversity Matters’ co-hosts Richard Friend and Judy Seidenstein to discuss the implications of “covering” on individuals, organizations, and a national civil-rights agenda. According to Publisher’s Weekly’s starred review, “As healing as it is polemical, this book has tremendous potential as a touchstone in the struggle for universal human dignity.” As both poet and law professor, Kenji gives voice to the importance of authenticity in the human experience as well as organizational life.
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