This thread is inspired by @MyaLRoberson thread re: #BlackintheIvory. She has suggestions that are relevant across disciplines; this thread is specifically for humanities depts. So, if you’re a white faculty member in a humanities dept, here’s what you can do:
1. From @MyaLRoberson (H/T): “Stand up for Black voices in the moment especially when they are pushing back against a norm. Emailing or approaching after the fact saying "I really appreciate what you said/how you called XYZ out" isn't helpful.” Quiet support won’t promote change.
2. Incorporate informal service (office hours, student advocacy, etc.) as a metric for promotion and advancement. Blk faculty—particularly blk women faculty—do far more than their white counterparts, but this is neither acknowledged nor appreciated. I’m not speculating, either.
3. Match your pedagogy with your ethics. If you teach radical theory, then you must be radical in your action. Right now is not the time for business as usual; if paperwork can wait (and even if it can’t), it should.
4. Offer to connect your black colleagues (esp. the untenured ones) with potential publishers and editors for publication. Don’t wait on them to ask you; offer your help and allow them to say no. And if they say yes, do WHATEVER YOU CAN to help get their work published.
5. Don’t tokenize your black colleagues. In times like this, for example, don’t wait on your black faculty to say something in order for you to draft statements, speak to administrative higher-ups, etc. #BlackintheIvory
6. Do your own homework re: #antiblackness. Your experiences aren’t enough. We’re scholars; we read for a living. If you have time to read Kant and de Beauvoir, you have time to read saidiya Hartman, Fred moten, Christina Sharpe, and Frank wilderson.
7. Related to 6: don’t assume that just bc you’ve read these ppl that you now know everything (or even enough) about #antiblackness. That kind of conceit is itself antiblack.
8. Don’t assume that your blk colleagues are your friends. More often than not, we are polite/silent out of concerns that professional repercussions will come (clearly I’m less concerned at this point, as I don’t have tenure and am writing this thread, but you get the point).
9. In general, Actions will always, always, speak louder than words. And humility is necessary. If you take credit for what you think are the “good” things that you do, you’ve already destroyed any credibility you may have built, reinforcing white normativity—which is antiblack.
