Bioarchaeology and race and sexism
Paleoanthropology and bioanthropology has done a lot of good for the world, but has also been used to justify racism and sexism since the fields began. People twist and manipulate what it means to be human in a way that fits their narrative and political reasons. I believe that in order to combat this, we must confront it and correct it with actual scientifically backed evidence. The most important place for this to start would be classrooms, and I mean any class that has to do with anything scientific at all. Science is supposed to be the voice of reason, and that voice must be legit and and used with good intentions. Personally, I have seen race and gender handled very differently between all classes that I've taken so far as a student, and not just a college student.
I can remember being in middle school and having teachers who held homophobic, racist, and sexist beliefs and presenting those beliefs proudly to their students in the small, rural town I once lived in which only fed the prominent discriminatory beliefs that many people had who lived there. As a college student, I've noticed many professors like to shy away from the topic. I don't believe this is the way to handle it as being complacent is only adding to the issue. In the anthropology department, I find the opposite to be true. In nearly every class I've taken in that department professors will confront racism and sexism at least once during the semester. They are very proactive in differentiating between things like gender and sex, and proactive in correcting any racist ideas that may have come from people distorting the true meaning behind anthropology.
I believe that there is no other way to tackle this issue than to confront it head on in every situation it pops up in. Using resources that offer a new, diverse perspective is also helpful. Science has a duty to teach people the truth, and racism and sexism is not the truth. There is no science field out there that will justify hateful actions.
I can remember being in middle school and having teachers who held homophobic, racist, and sexist beliefs and presenting those beliefs proudly to their students in the small, rural town I once lived in which only fed the prominent discriminatory beliefs that many people had who lived there. As a college student, I've noticed many professors like to shy away from the topic. I don't believe this is the way to handle it as being complacent is only adding to the issue. In the anthropology department, I find the opposite to be true. In nearly every class I've taken in that department professors will confront racism and sexism at least once during the semester. They are very proactive in differentiating between things like gender and sex, and proactive in correcting any racist ideas that may have come from people distorting the true meaning behind anthropology.
I believe that there is no other way to tackle this issue than to confront it head on in every situation it pops up in. Using resources that offer a new, diverse perspective is also helpful. Science has a duty to teach people the truth, and racism and sexism is not the truth. There is no science field out there that will justify hateful actions.
Interesting to see your experience as to how different teacher/professors talk about race. I wonder often what the best way to talk about these concepts in class is. A lot of my colleagues tell me they get negative comments on student evals about how their prof was "left-wing" when they mention things like white supremacy etc. that hasn't happened to me yet, but maybe as a white man i can get away with more? What more could profs do in class? or, what should students do when a professor says something racist?
ReplyDeletethe readings are eye-opening though. thinking about how even the 'facts' we teach might be biased towards certain view points is a very controverisal idea, but also super impt to grapple with.