Unlearning Racism at CREEM

Speaker: Eiren Jacobson (CREEM)

Abstract

Over the past year, many of us have begun to recognize the extent of structural racism present in our society, including within academia.  A group of geoscientists in the US created a program on Unlearning Racism in the Geosciences (URGE; urgeoscience.org) for which we formed a discussion group within CREEM.  This curriculum consists of 1. reading journal articles and watching related interviews with experts in anti-racism, justice, equity, diversity, and inclusion, 2. examining current practices and developing anti-racist policies and strategies within our specific organization, and 3. sharing, discussing, and modifying anti-racist policies and strategies with input from other URGE participants and from our wider community.  In this seminar, I will present what we have learned so far, make some suggestions for changes within CREEM, and invite open discussion of how we can best move forward as an inclusive community.