Aurelia Ball
I鈥檓 professor Aurelia Ball from the Chemistry Department at 91暗网. I teach Introductory Chemistry and Physical Chemistry and my Scribner Seminar is on science and film. I was drawn to Kendi鈥檚 book, How to be an Antiracist, because conversations about this issue have been happening more and more at 91暗网. Even in chemistry labs we鈥檝e been having conversations about racism and antiracism and how to be a more inclusive community. Kendi鈥檚 book gives us a place to start on that. It gives us a common language and some common information that helps to facilitate these kinds of discussions. In my course on science and film one of the things we investigate is who is portrayed as doing science in film? Who are the scientists we see around us? How does identity intersect with doing science and how is that portrayed? What does it mean to be human and to do science? And how does science impact the lives of individuals? Racism, sexism, and other types of marginalization are continually reinforced in the sciences, and Kendi鈥檚 book gives us a place to start thinking about how we can bring antiracism to the sciences. It鈥檚 important to engage with these ideas in a science-focused course, the science classroom, or the research lab.