The areas of the teaching group, so far, are as follows:
1) Race in the curriculum: to address issues that relate to teaching race: from curriculum diversification to teaching about race. We seek to explore how attention to race in the curriculum matters to both student experience and a greater understanding of geography.
2) Teaching and well-being: to address well-being and retention when the resilience for BME groups can be low. This also transcends the classroom into things like being a personal tutor. As part of this, we would like to consider the spectrum that is encompassed by ‘teaching’ and the spaces it takes place in.
So far, RACE members have contributed :
- a special section in AREA on race and teaching
- teaching networks and consultations, for both higher and school education
- book chapters and articles on race and teaching for handbooks and journals
- teaching orientated workshops and events, including pre-conference workshops at the RGS-IBG Annual Conferences
- online teaching resources, including Global Social Theory and collaborative syllabi
We are regularly updating this section and responding to requests. You are also welcome to co-contribute. If you have questions about teaching, please contact Dr James Esson, the head of the teaching subcommittee. You can find further resources on the Links page.
Please also check out the student-led Black Geographers initiative and check out their social media.
Twitter: @blackgeogorg
Instagram: instagram.com/blackgeographers/
Learning and Teaching during the Covid-19 Pandemic
The Covid-19 pandemic has further exacerbated issues for Black students, as well as opened up some new opportunities. RACE Secretary Pat Noxolo explains these in this video:
RESOURCES
Open Access articles and chapters
ESSON, J., LAST, A. and RACE Working Group., 2018. Learning and teaching about race and racism in geography. IN: Walkington, H., Hill, J. and Dwyer, S. (eds.) Handbook of Teaching and Learning in Geography. Cheltenham: Edward Elgar, pp. 227-240.
Area Journal Race & Teaching special issue
Online Dissertation Resources
The Royal Geographical Society/Institute of British Geographers has published resources for completing dissertations during the Covid-19 pandemic. You can find them here: https://www.rgs.org/research/higher-education-resources/online-dissertation/
Teaching zines
Postcolonial, Decolonial and Critical Race Theory (PDF link)
Postcolonial Environmentalism & Environmental Racism (PDF link)
Gender, Sexuality & Race in Geography (PDF link) also see Maria Lugones The Coloniality of Gender
Geography & Science (coming)
Geographical History (coming)
Cartography (requested)
Reading lists
We are in the process of assembling reading lists on different topics. These will be published here. For now, here are some useful reading lists from around the web:
- Black Geographies Speciality Group of the Association of American Geographers Reading List
- New York Times Racism and Climate Change reading list
- The Islamic Liberation Reading List by Asad Dandia for Los Angeles Review of Books
- Indigenous Methods Reading Lists by Helen Kara #1 and #2
- The iconic Standing Rock Syllabus that was produced as part of the Dakota Access Pipeline Protests
- A Geology and Colonialism Reading List has been put together by the Bryn Mawr Mineral Collection and may be of interest to physical geographers in particular.
Videos, Films, TV Series
Videos are a great medium, not because they give you a break from reading, but also because they allow for different performances. Take, for example, the science fiction series Black Lightning and how it literally enacts concepts in critical race theory and geography.
Science and Islam is a useful BBC documentary that illustrates the influence of Middle Eastern scholars on the development of science – and by extension Geography – in Europe.
Diving with a Purpose is a National Geographic short film on an association of African American contemporary explorers. There is a slightly longer (and actually more interesting version) of this film here.
Expedition Volcano is a BBC natural history programme presented by Black UK geoscientist Christopher Jackson
Music
Geographies are often better expressed in music than in writing. We are in the process of assembling playlists.
Websites
AAG Black Geographies https://blackgeographies.org/
Building the anti-racist classroom https://barcworkshop.org/
Decolonial Atlas: https://decolonialatlas.wordpress.com/
Decolonising the Archive: http://www.decolonisingthearchive.com/
Global Social Theory https://globalsocialtheory.org/
Indigenous Education Network https://www.oise.utoronto.ca/ien/
Race, Culture & Equality Working Group: https://raceingeography.org/
The Disorder of Things https://thedisorderofthings.com/
Improving racial equality, diversity, and inclusion in the Earth Sciences https://www.earth.ox.ac.uk/wp-content/uploads/2020/06/BAME-EDI-Report.pdf
Race, Culture and Equality Working Group 