Dr. Philomena Essed
Philomena Essed holds a PhD from the University of Amsterdam (1990) and an Honorary Doctorate from the University of Pretoria (2011). Dr. Essed is professor of Critical Race, Gender and Leadership Studies for Antioch University’s PhD in Leadership and Change program and is an affiliated researcher for Utrecht University’s Graduate Gender program.
Dr. Essed’s research and teaching transcends national, cultural and disciplinary boundaries. Well known for introducing the concepts of “everyday racism” and “gendered racism” in the Netherlands and internationally, her work has been adopted and applied in a range of countries, including the United States, Canada, South Africa, Sweden, Finland, Russia, the United Kingdom, Switzerland, and Australia. She has lectured in many countries – from Germany to Brazil; from South-Africa to Canada – and published numerous articles in English and in Dutch, some of which have been translated into French, German, Italian, Swedish and Portuguese.
Dr. Essed has a life-long commitment to social justice. In addition to her academic work in this area she has been advisor to governmental and non-governmental organizations nationally and internationally. In the Netherlands, she co-founded the Network for College Educated Black, Migrant and Refugee Women (mid 1980s) and worked with the team that established the national institute E-quality: Experts in Gender and Ethnicity (1997/8). She has been a member of the Dutch national Temporary Expert Commission for Women’s Emancipation (1998-2001) and a member of the Dutch Selection Commission of Members of the Judiciary (2003-2010). Since 2004, she has occupied the position of Deputy Member of The Netherlands Institute for Human Rights (previously know as The Dutch Equal Treatment Commission) where she serves as a panel member in hearings and investigations about structural discrimination, including race, gender, religion, age, sexual orientation and, disability.
Dr. Essed is an expert witness on race, gender, and racism in Europe and has been called upon to participate in hearings held by The European Parliament (Brussels, 1984); The United Nations Economic and Social Council (New York, 2001); The House of Representatives of the States-General (The Hague, the Netherlands, 2004); and the United States Helsinki Commission (Capitol Hill, Washington, 2008).
As a result of Dr. Essed’s work, The Queen of the Netherlands recently honored her with a Knighthood (2011).
Selected authored and co-edited books
Clones, Fakes and Posthumans: Cultures of Replication (Rodopi, 2012)
A Companion to Gender Studies (Blackwell 2005; CHOICE outstanding academic title, 2005)
Refugees and the Transformation of Societies: Agency, Policies, Ethics and Politics (Berghahn, 2004)
Race Critical Theories (Blackwell, 2002)
Diversity: Gender, Color and Culture (University of Massachusetts Press, 1996)
Understanding Everyday Racism: An Interdisciplinary Theory (SAGE publications, 1991)
Everyday Racism: Reports From Women of Two Cultures (Hunter House, 1990)
Selected articles
“Social Justice and Dignity”, Leading Across Differences. Cases and Perspectives. in, K. Hannum, B. McFeeters & L. Booysen (Eds). San Francisco: Pfeiffer. Pp 139-147. (2010)
“Intolerable Humiliations”, Racism, Postcolonialism, Europe. Graham Huggan & Ian Law (Eds). Liverpool: Liverpool UP. Pp 131-147. (2009)
“Who Wants to Feel White? Race, Dutch Culture and Contested Identities”, Ethnic and Racial Studies. Volume 31, No 1. January 2008, pp 52-72. With Sandra Trienekens. (2008)
“Multi-Identifications and Transformations: Reaching Beyond Racial and Ethnic Reductionisms”, Race, Racialization, and Antiracism. Randy Enomoto & Genevieve Fuji Johnson (Eds). Toronto: University of Toronto Press. Pp 233-252. (Reprint) (2007)
“Leadership in Question: Talking Diversity, Walking Homogeneity in the Dutch Police Force”, Diversity: New Realities in A Changing World. Kurt April & Marylou Shockley (Eds). Palgrave Macmillan. Pp 266-275. (2007)
“Designs and (Co)Incidents. Cultures of Scholarship and Public Policy on Immigrants/Minorities in the Netherlands”, International Journal of Comparative Sociology. Volume 47 (3-4). Pp 281-312. With Kwame Nimako. (2006)
“Gendered Normativities in Racialized Spaces: Cloning the Physician”, Racialization: Studies in Theory and Practice. John Solomos & Karim Murji (Eds.). Oxford: Oxford UP. Pp 229-249. (2005)
“Cloning Amongst Professors: Normativities and Imagined Homogeneities”, NORA. Nordic Journal of Women’s Studies. Pp 113—122. (2004)
“Naming the Unnamable: Sense and Sensibilities in Researching Racism”, Researching Race and Racism. M. Bulmer & J. Solomos (Eds).. London: Routledge. Pp. 119-133. (2004)
