Laurie Mulvey
Title: RRP Co-Director
How do you identify yourself? Mostly, I identify myself as “white” because that is the category most significant to this culture and to my work with race relations. But if I’m traveling abroad, I identify myself as American. And, if I’m with white people and we’re discussing our heritage, I say I’m half Irish, a quarter Polish and a quarter “mostly unknown.”
What’s your background? I got my B.A. from Rutgers College in English, a major chosen simply to get me out of school as quickly as possible. However, by the end of college, I became intrigued by the blending of psychology and sociology. So I attended Rutgers School of Social Work for a master’s degree. To this day, I think that was one of the best things I ever did because my studies there completely shifted my understanding of the world. Once I had completed that degree, I felt far from “finished” learning. So I came to Penn State’s Department of Human Development and Family Studies to pursue a Ph.D. Though this formal education charts the course of my intellectual and personal explorations, I now view it as a measure of my discipline. My truest, most unforgettable and transformative learning comes when I open my eyes, roll up my sleeves and experience whatever lands in front of me.
Have you always thought about race and ethnicity? I was raised from a young age to be very aware of race differences, but not from a “celebrate diversity” perspective—from an “us versus them” perspective. So I have traveled a long road from the misinformation and biases of my upbringing to a deep sense of honoring the different shapes of people’s lives and cultures. As a result, I understand that “good people” can have terribly biased ideas about others. And I understand how that apparent contradiction between being “good” and being “biased” can be maintained. This understanding of people is essential to the conciliatory work of race relations. So I embrace completely the limitations of my past, at the same time that I am grateful for the way my mind was finally blown open to a larger vision.
What do you get from working with the race relations project? I get the opportunity and the challenge to put into practice “the inner work” of race relations that I discussed in my book, Making Peace between Our Colors. And I get to do it with some of the most dynamic, inspired, and open-hearted people you can imagine.
Why do you spend so much of your life dealing with these issues (race and ethnicity)? I honestly don’t know…because I never deliberately chose to be involved in this work. I have simply followed the doors that opened to me. And that doorway metaphor is not meant to imply that I have taken the easy road—because I have not. Many times I have found this work to be so excruciating that I am frantically looking for another doorway. But something…something larger than me…has kept pushing me into the struggle rather than away from it. So I’ve finally stopped asking why I do this work. I just ask, “What’s next?” But I often smile to myself about how unlikely a candidate I would have been back in the day to be so deeply involved with race relations. If you read my book, you’ll understand what I mean…
What are your other interests and activities? I love to have unscheduled time around me, totally open time where I can choose what I feel like doing without having to rush or force myself. So I am often motivated to shape my life in a way that ensures that I can create enough openness to allow myself to actually feel what I am inspired to do and to do it. Some of the things that have engaged me in this open space have been: conversations with Sam, creating photos, gardening and making flower bouquets, baking bread, hiking with my dog, making cards, cooking a good dinner and enjoying it with friends, singing, and playing with clay.
What is your philosophy of teaching? We are all teachers and we are all students. And since I can’t predict or control who is going to be who at different times, I work to establish a classroom culture where the participation is open and the focus is exploration.