Can "Diversity and Inclusion" Training Actually Become Diverse and Inclusive? Chloé Valdary Has A Plan.

The Unspeakeasy With Meghan Daum

Meghan Daum

Society & Culture

4.7 • 855 Ratings

🗓️ 16 May 2021

⏱️ 69 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

You've probably noticed more buzz than usual lately about anti-racism training modules in schools and workplaces. Often referred to as DEI or Diversity Equity and Inclusion, this framework has turned into a big business, with concepts like "white fragility" and "black despair" sometimes weaponized in the name of fighting inequality. Amid the swirl of approaches (which are often indistinguishable from one another), a 27-year-old writer and entrepreneur named Chloé Valdary has developed an alternative model. Called The Theory of Enchantment, it model uses the arts and developmental psychology to help people of find a common humanity through a shared love of culture. In this interview, Chloé talks with Meghan about how she came up with this idea, how her own unusual family background made her resistant to essentialist identity categories, and why she thinks the frequently invoked social justice refrain "it's not my job to educate you" is so misguided. Relevant links: Black People Are Far More Powerful Than Critical Race Theory Teaches, by Chloe Valdary I Refuse To Stand By While My Students Are Indoctrinated, by Grace Church School teacher Paul Rossi What Is Systemic Racism? John McWhorter, Lara Bazelon, Glenn Loury, Kmele Foster, Chloé Valdary and Kenny Xu weigh in. Guest Bio: Chloé Valdary is the creator of Theory of Enchantment, a framework for compassionate antiracism that she has introduced to workplaces around the world, including in South Africa, The Netherlands, Germany, and Israel. She has lectured at universities across America, including Harvard and Georgetown and she has been a Bartley fellow at the Wall Street Journal and written for that publication as well as The New York Times and elsewhere.

Transcript

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0:00.0	Somehow, when it comes to racism and combating racism and finding racism in this same way,
0:09.9	with this understanding of the full picture of the human being at the center of your approach,
0:15.8	somehow the question is raised. For some reason, the question is raised, well, why does the burden have to be on the
0:21.9	person of color? It's like, I think it's fundamentally the wrong question because it's fundamentally
0:26.3	a misunderstanding of what's going on. Yes, it is a burden. Of course it is a burden. But it is
0:32.4	also an incredible opportunity. And in many ways, it is an incredible, I would actually go so far as to say,
0:40.2	to be engaged in the spiritual work of actually trying to alleviate suffering,
0:46.0	not only the suffering that is being inflicted upon you, but also the suffering that is
0:50.0	affecting the person in persecuting you. It is actually a gift to be able to contribute to raising
0:55.5	people to their higher self.
1:00.7	Welcome to the unspeakable podcast. I'm your host, Megan Dowm. You don't have to be hyper
1:06.5	attuned to the so-called culture wars to have noticed that there's been some buzz in the news
1:11.3	lately about the increasing influence of anti-racism training modules in schools and in
1:16.9	workplaces, often referred to as DEI or diversity, equity, and inclusion. This framework has turned
1:24.1	into a big business with concepts like white fragility and black despair,
1:29.3	sometimes weaponized in the name of fighting inequality.
1:32.9	Amid the swirl of approaches, a 27-year-old writer and entrepreneur named Chloe Valdry has
1:39.0	developed an alternative model, called the Theory of Enchantment.
1:43.1	This model uses the arts and developmental psychology
1:45.9	to help people find a common humanity through a shared love of culture. In this interview,
1:52.1	Chloe talked about how she came up with this idea, how her own unusual family background made
1:57.5	her resistant to essentialist identity categories and why she thinks the frequently
	...

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