UCLA vice provost Ralina L. Joseph will discuss her new book, Racial Exhaustion: How to Move Through Racism in the Wake of DEI, with Sarah Banet-Weiser at Ms. magazine’s Beverly Hills headquarters.
As attacks on diversity, equity and inclusion intensify across the United States, how can feminists deepen their commitment to racial justice—and sustain that work without succumbing to exhaustion?
On Thursday, Sept. 10, Ms. will welcome author and scholar Ralina L. Joseph for a special evening examining the interconnectedness of race, equity and feminism. Joseph will discuss her new book, Racial Exhaustion: How to Move Through Racism in the Wake of DEI, in conversation with Sarah Banet-Weiser, dean of the Annenberg School for Communication at the University of Pennsylvania. RSVP here.
The conversation will explore how racial exhaustion affects both women of color and white women—and why confronting that fatigue is necessary to remain engaged in the struggle for racial equity. Drawing from Joseph’s scholarship, the speakers will consider how feminists can practice radical listening, navigate difficult conversations about race and build more equitable forms of communication and collective action.
The event is part of the Ms. Book Talk series, which brings together feminist authors, scholars, activists and readers for timely conversations about the ideas shaping our lives and movements. Attendees will have the opportunity to meet Joseph, purchase a copy of the book and have it signed. Light refreshments will be served.
Please RSVP to secure your (free) spot.
Event Details
Thursday, Sept. 10, 2026
6–8 p.m.
Ms. magazine headquarters
433 S. Beverly Drive
Beverly Hills, Calif.
Street-level parking is available.
About the Speakers
Ralina L. Joseph is UCLA’s vice provost for inclusive excellence and a professor of African American studies. She is the author of several books, including Postracial Resistance: Black Women, Media Culture, and the Uses of Strategic Ambiguity.
In Racial Exhaustion, Joseph draws on personal narrative, real-world dialogue and critical race scholarship to examine the fatigue generated by conversations and conflicts about race. She offers radical listening as one strategy for moving through that exhaustion, fostering more equitable communication and creating the conditions for productive change.
Sarah Banet-Weiser is dean of the Annenberg School for Communication at the University of Pennsylvania and a professor of communication. She is also a research professor at the USC Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism and the founding director of the Center for Collaborative Communication at the two Annenberg schools.
Banet-Weiser has authored or edited eight books, including Believability: Sexual Violence, Media and the Politics of Doubt; Authenti: The Politics of Ambivalence in a Brand Culture; and Empowered: Popular Feminism and Popular Misogyny. Her interdisciplinary scholarship examines gender, race and media; popular feminism and misogyny; consumer culture; citizenship; and the politics of visibility and belief.
During her tenure at USC Annenberg, Banet-Weiser also collaborated with Ms. on “Ms. Fembot 2016: An Un-Conference on Digital Tools for Civic Engagement.”
