LSE - Small Logo
LSE - Small Logo

Dipa Patel

March 18th, 2021

Colourism: An interview with Beatriz Cantada and Natalie Petit

0 comments

Estimated reading time: 10 minutes

Dipa Patel

March 18th, 2021

Colourism: An interview with Beatriz Cantada and Natalie Petit

0 comments

Estimated reading time: 10 minutes

In the second episode of Can You Hear Us?, the CYHU team takes a step back to critically tackle a system of oppression embedded within the identity politics of many women of colour in some shape or form: Colourism.

Inspired by current events and Professor Akousa Adomako Ampofos Cutting Edge lecture on decolonizing academia, we welcome two guests all the way from Boston to begin deconstructing colorism and the ways in which it operates in social movements and community-building: Beatriz Cantada, Equity, Inclusion and Community Engagement Leader at MIT, and Natalie Petit, Assistant Director of Undergraduate Education in the MIT Sloan School of Management.

“Growing up I didn’t use the word Colorism, we just said oh you’re lighter darker skinned” – Beatriz Cantada

“Let’s not wait for another Tsunami like George Floyd when we could have just handled the rip tides […to…] avoid the aftershocks.” – Natalie Petit

Can You Hear Us? is a podcast affiliated to the LSE’s first society dedicated to Women of Colour in Consulting (WoCo), created by the 2020/21 Cohort. Find them on the LSE ID SoundCloud every other Thursday: https://soundcloud.com/lse_id/sets/can-you-hear-us.


The views expressed in this post are those of the author and in no way reflect those of the International Development LSE blog or the London School of Economics and Political Science.

About the author

Dipa Patel

Posted In: Featured | Podcasts | Student Experience

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

RSS Justice and Security Research Programme

RSS LSE’s engagement with South Asia

  • Falling Out-of-Pocket Expenditure in India’s Healthcare: What’s Behind the Trend?
    Healthcare in India is a critical sector, now being the most populous country in the world. Government initiatives and investment play a central role in providing both affordability and access. Vrinda Gupta examines the latest figures of the National Health Accounts, and analyses the possible causes that lie behind them.     The latest National Health […]
  • Environmental Degradation and the Future of Myanmar
    Damage to Myanmar’s environment has been constant and incremental under decades of military rule. Averse to international aid and assistance — which has not been particularly high in any case — the junta has been ploughing the country’s natural resources for revenue. Declining law and order and political control has led to further illegal activities […]