12th Annual Edmund W. Gordon Distinguished Lecture

In its 12th year, the Gordon Lecture will feature Professor Eduardo Bonilla-Silva, James B. Duke Distinguished Professor of Sociology at Duke University. A leading scholar on systemic racism and racial inequality, Bonilla-Silva is best known for his groundbreaking work Racism Without Racists and his theory of “color-blind racism.” His lecture, “It’s Not the Bad Apples: On the Import of White Normativity,” will explore how racial hierarchies persist through social structures and norms rather than individual prejudice.

Professor Bonilla-Silva received his BA in Sociology with a minor in Economics in 1984 from the Universidad de Puerto Rico, Río Piedras campus. He received his MA (1988) and PhD (1993) from the University of Wisconsin, Madison. Professor Bonilla-Silva worked at the University of Michigan (1993-1998) and Texas A&M University (1998-2005), prior to joining Duke in 2005. He gained visibility in the social sciences with his 1997 American Sociological Review article, “Rethinking Racism: Toward a Structural Interpretation,” where he challenged analysts to study racial matters structurally. His book, Racism without Racists (6th edition in 2022), has become a classic in the field and it is used widely by scholars in multiple fields. His book, White Logic, White Methods: Racism and Methodology (2012 with Tukufu Zuberi) has helped reshape the conversation of how we should measure the impact of racial stratification on various social outcomes. Bonilla-Silva has received many awards, most notably, the W.E.B. Du Bois Career of Distinguished Scholarship Award in 2021, given by the American Sociological Association to “scholars who have shown outstanding commitment to the profession of sociology and whose cumulative work has contributed in important ways to the advancement of the discipline.” He served as President of the Southern Sociological Society and the American Sociological Association in 2017-2018. He served as the 2024-2025 Pitt Professor of History and Social Institutions at Cambridge University.

The Edmund W. Gordon Distinguished Lecture is one of three distinguished lectures sponsored by the Office of the Provost at Teachers College, Columbia University. It is designed to bring together leading experts in the fields of education and the humanities to share their scholarship and engage in meaningful discussions with the Teachers College community. The lecture pays lasting tribute to Professor Edmund W. Gordon, Founder and Director Emeritus of the Gordon Institute for Advanced Study (formerly IUME) whose incomparable legacy of achievement and service to humanity continues to inspire scholars and educators for generations to come.

Hosted by the Edmund W. Gordon Institute for Advanced Study, the lecture will be held at Teachers College, Columbia University, in Milbank Chapel, and a reception to follow.

RSVP required.

To request disability-related accommodations, contact OASID at [email protected], or 212-678-3689, (646) 755-3144 video phone, as soon as possible.

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