Comments on: Diversity and Accessibility at THATCamp

By: stewartvarner

stewartvarner — Mon, 27 Jun 2011 17:23:05 +0000

Thanks everyone for the great ideas. I’ve been editing as suggestions come in so keep checking and keep the feedback coming.

Also, is everyone free to edit this page? If so, please feel free to do that. If not, would it make sense to move this to a Google doc?

Thanks,
Stewart

By: David Morgen

David Morgen — Mon, 27 Jun 2011 16:45:15 +0000

I think one fundamental tip to include in the instructions planners receive is to recommend that someone be designated as an outreach coordinator, whose job it would be to contact institutions in the area and to generally be thinking about diversity and inclusiveness.

By: Ian Thomas

Ian Thomas — Fri, 24 Jun 2011 20:03:37 +0000

The “Who Should Attend” section from GLTC is a great example for future THATCamps to use. The “What If I’m Not a Humanist” section is particularly great. I worry that if we begin to list specific areas of study (Queer Studies, Disability Studies, Composition, what have you) we risk leaving possible participants out. Of course, nothing will ever be perfect so it’s just a thought.

Perhaps we could leave the language as broad as possible (i.e. saying humanists and non-humanists alike are all welcome) then reach out to specific departments or people in our institutions that cover the subject-areas mentioned above. My impression is that under-represented people aren’t turned away by the language of the invitation, but rather that they never receive it.

By: Jennifer Sano-Franchini

Jennifer Sano-Franchini — Wed, 22 Jun 2011 21:29:35 +0000

I was thinking about this…I think it will vary depending on the purpose of the material, but perhaps things like listing among example topics issues that are not currently well-represented or that people might not typically see as being pertinent to THATCamp, in order to draw people who do work in those areas.

The “About” page for Great Lakes THATCamp is a good example www.2011.greatlakesthatcamp.org/about/ — under the “Who Should Attend?” section, we see a nice range of examples in terms of institutional roles and fields of study, which could be even larger to include Disability Studies, Queer Studies, and/or Race and Ethnic Studies. I also think including examples is generally better than just saying “everyone is welcome”.

Other suggestions?

By: stewartvarner

stewartvarner — Wed, 22 Jun 2011 20:46:43 +0000

Thanks Jennifer. To that point, can we come up with some examples of “welcoming language” that organizers could use?

By: Jennifer Sano-Franchini

Jennifer Sano-Franchini — Wed, 22 Jun 2011 20:34:41 +0000

Thanks for bringing up the issue of language. I’d personally veer away from “diversity”, primarily because I think a lot of people who do work in race and ethnic studies find it troublesome in various ways (in ways that are similar to “multiculturalism”). What about something like “promoting inclusion”?

I think beyond the great suggestion of proofreading for language in promotional materials that may unintentionally exclude people, it is also important to include welcoming language.