Marxist prof teaches Amherst students the 'nationalist constructions of whiteness'

Amherst College is offering the course “The Social Construction of Whiteness” next year. 

Ron Lembo, a professor of anthropology, will teach the class spring 2022, using “historical, theoretical, literary, and sociological accounts... to contextualize whiteness as a discourse of power.”

”The course will focus primarily, but not exclusively, on the United States, from the pre-Civil Rights era through the contemporary passage from colorblind to nationalist constructions of whiteness,” the course description states. 

Lembo’s research and past teaching focus on race, diversity, and social class. He cites Karl Marx and Sigmund Freud as intellectual influences. 

”The Social Construction of Whiteness” aligns with Amherst College’s “Anti-Racism Plan,” an ongoing initiative that redirects funds away from the campus police department and to “student staff” and “mental health services.”

Campus Reform has reported on similar programs at other well-known universities.

 Last year the University of Colorado Boulder hosted a three-week long course called “Anti-Racism 1” which aimed to introduce critical race studies and whiteness to students with one of the course’s goals being to explain why ‘Blue Lives Matters’ is racist.

[RELATED: CU Boulder introduces ‘critical race’ course about ‘whiteness’]

 Additionally, Columbia University hosted a workshop was designed specifically for white students. The event was titled “From Ally to Accomplice at Columbia: Working Group for Examining and Deconstructing Whiteness to Mitigate Racial Trauma.”

[RELATED: Columbia hosts ‘deconstructing whiteness’ workshop for ‘white-identified students’]

Campus Reform continues to report on segregated events, bias, and ‘anti-racism’ curriculum. 

Amherst College did not respond to Campus Reform’s request for comment.