Lani Guinier's keynote lecture given at the
Barnard College Center for Research on Women in March 2008 is
part of her lifelong project of rectifying voting methods in the
United States that weaken the voting power of all kinds of
minority groups. Rooting her analysis in her mother's keen
observation about power drawn literally from observing
child's play, Guinier addresses how we might restructure
common notions of power and democracy. Guinier reminds her
audience to ask, "Who designed the game?" when
thinking about structures of power and to shift perceptions of
success from individual winning or losing in electoral politics.
Instead, she focuses on creating opportunities to bring together
and build on the collective intelligence of the oppressed. Using
examples from the Theater of the Oppressed in Brazil, the
Montgomery Bus Boycott and the Citizens Deliberative Assembly in
British Columbia, she calls for us to "reconceptualiz[e]
our relationship to other sources of power."
Two excerpts, as well as the full-length video of Guinier's
lecture follow.
