Welcoming Designing Antiracist Curricula Fellows
We recently welcomed the first cohort of the Designing Antiracist Curricula (DAC) Fellows and are delighted to work with the thirteen Fellows who come from across BU’s schools, colleges, and campuses (learn more about the Fellows here). The group will gather together each month to learn about antiracist teaching approaches and develop courses. Collectively, we will be discussing how to share their knowledge and projects with the BU community in the spring—we’ll keep you posted!
At the meeting, Professor Ibram Kendi offered words of welcome to the Fellows as important contributors to BU’s continuing commitment to strengthening antiracist frameworks for teaching and learning.
Creating a “community altar” was a first step towards getting to know each other through sharing stories about meaningful objects in our lives. Participants first placed their objects in a central space (see image above). As each person shared the story behind their object, we learned about family and cultural traditions, intellectual and other journeys, and important milestones in each other’s lives. Creating this space for collective sharing and reflection was a great way to establish a foundation for trust and commitment to the unfolding process.
The group also brainstormed ideas for a community agreement and began discussing questions of identity through the Identity Wheel exercise. Both of these activities, which contributed to this inclusive learning space, will be continued in the next meeting.
We are tremendously pleased to be collaborating with the DAC Fellows in conversations and action-oriented projects to build antiracist teaching resources at Boston University! We look forward to bringing you more news of the group’s work in the coming months.
The folks behind the DAC program:
The DAC program is a partnership between the Center for Antiracist Research (CAR), the Center for Teaching and Learning (CTL), and BU Diversity & Inclusion (D&I). The DAC planning team is currently Phillipe Copeland from CAR; Jean Otsuki and Deb Breen from CTL; Megan Segoshi from D&I; and Priya Garg, from BUMC.