Race in science – online and offline
This session is moderated by Danielle Lee and AcmeGirl:
The issues of gender and race are related and have overlaps, yet there are differences as well that need to be explored. If there is no profile picture, most readers will automatically assume that the author is white. What can be done to promote minorities blogging? How can blogs by minorities be used to attract kids into science careers? How to get and make allies? What allies can and should be doing? How the Web provides new methods and means for action and effecting positive change.
Discuss:
DNLee: Increasing the participation of under-represented populations in the sciences has been a much talked about subject. Recently, I posted two articles about Increasing Diversity in the Sciences and have received interesting feedback from my readers.
here and here. Overall comments keep coming back to the same point -EXPOSURE. Hands-on (and hopefully positive) science learning experiences at early ages that continue throughout their school years are imperative to ‘hooking’ students into science. Later in life (young adult yrs in high school and/or college) hands-on science research/work experiences are necessary to help students understand the career opportuntites available in the sciences.
More thoughts invited.
Samia: I blogged about some of my ideas here. One thing I want to tackle (and will write about in a later post) is the idea that science is genderless and raceless in its very nature. I have a big problem with this and feel it’s an obstacle to diversity in science. The perception that the scientific establishment is by nature “raceless” is without foundation and simply incorrect. As long as people think of the establishment as perfectly objective, there is room to suspect that low numbers of certain minorities in some areas of science is coincidence. Maybe this is related to getting more kids of colour into science— how attracted can we expect them to be when they are taught from birth that all the important scientists were older, upper-class European men?
DNLee: complete co-sign of Samia’s sentiments. The field does come off as objective – which is somewhat true, in my experiences as of late. But these same ‘egalatarians’ seldom lift a finger to fight for diversity. This is where allies come in. Sitting back because you are fair is by no means a way to attract and retain a diverse student body/faculty/graduate program, etc. Historic and cultural barriers to FULL entry in science and research are very real.
On another note. I have blogged again about Increasing Diversity, this time the role of mentorship and conference attendance is explored
here.
There is also ALOT of discussion about this matter (as well as both race & gender and science) at scienceblogs – Dr. Isis and Drug Moneky have stoked the fires
Samia: I can’t afford to attend the conference. Boo. :(
acmegirl: I had an interesting conversation with a (white male) colleague the other day. His perception was that a lot of work was being done to help attract and retain female faculty but that there was not as much being done to attract and retain ‘brown’ faculty. We discussed this at length – and the discussion touched on many points, including how the importance of “fit: can be used against minority faculty at tenure decision time. (Thinking about the high profile tenure denial of James Sherley at MIT). This also ties into the dearth of minority science bloggers – if you might have your tenure denied because of not fitting in, a blog could certainly be a liability.
I was involved in programs aimed at getting minority students into science, and there are some student support groups in graduate school. But I don’t really know what is being done to help junior faculty? And what more could be done?
DNLee:
Promoting Diversity Online and Offline Workshop yielded some great ideas.
1) perhaps aggregating or blog rolling science blogs written by persons of color
Initial Catalogue includes
Asymptopia
http://asymptotia.com/author/cvj/ (perhaps the longest running science blog) Urban Science Adventures! © http://urban-science.blogspot.com
49 Percent http://im-geiste.blogspot.com/
Reconciliation Biology http://reconciliationecology.blogspot.com
Scientist Mother http://scientistmother.blogspot.com/
The Urban Birder http://www.theurbanbirder.com/
SES: Science, Education & Society http://sciedsociety.blogspot.com
Not Exactly Rocket Science http://scienceblogs.com/notrocketscience/
Thesis With Children http://kidsndata.blogspot.com
Physics for Girls http://physicsforgirls.blogspot.com
AlexLey.com http://www.alexley.com/
2) profile posts that discuss diversity or introduce the readers to scientists and their research
Re: Profiles – blog about pioneers in your field as a way of participating in Diversity Celebrations.
Science Blogger Diversity Challenge – Black History Month: Write an essay/blog post about an African-American innovator from your field.
Remember those Black History Month essays from school? Re-live those school days and write your own essay.
Tell us all about him/her? How has this person impacted the field and/or inspired you. Or why is his/her story interesting?
I’ll be writing my very own essay on Dr. Charles H. Turner – one of the first African-American scientists of Animal Behavior and Physiology. He was the first African-American to publish in the Journal of Animal Behavior and Science Magazine (1890s).
But why stop there? Let’s celebrate every heritage!
Science Blogger Diversity Challenge is perfect for celebrating Chinese/Lunar New Year, Women’s History Month, Native American Heritage Month, Latin American Heritiage Month, Anniversary of ADA, St. Patrick’s Day, etc.
3) increasing blog participation of minorities
a) invite colleagues to guest blog
b) Blog carnival bringing together different blog communities that share a common interest in blogging about minority academinc issues- some SciBlings, HBCU professor, AfroSphere, etc. – something akin to Scienticiae carnival – addressing hot topics like “distrust of the science community and science research by certain groups”, “personal stories of mentoring between unlike individuals”, “the pros and cons of race specific drugs”, “what is race and what does science reveal about race differences, etc.
