Symposium focuses on race, enviornment

From April 7-9, the College will host “Land and Justice: A Symposium on Race, Ethnicity and Environment.” The symposium is co-sponsored by the Center for the Comparative Study of Race and Ethnicity (CCSRE), Environmental Affairs, Middlebury College Organic Garden, the American studies program and the environmental studies program. The symposium will include various talks and panels, including a screening of the film Fresh and concurring workshops.

The symposium was developed by members of the Student Advisory Board, the CCSRE Steering Committee and various other Middlebury organizations. Associate Professor of History Kathryn Morse, Dean of Environmental Affairs Nan Jenks-Jay, Assistant Director of the Franklin Environmental Center at Hillcrest Janet Wiseman and Associate Professor of American Studies and Director of the CCRSE Susan Burch have been key collaborators for the symposium.

Burch, director of the CCSRE, said that the goal of the symposium reflects part of a greater academic goal at the College.

“We hope that individuals and groups that may commonly identify with one part of this work, such as ‘environment’ or ‘racial justice’ will find common ground at this conference,” she said. “The program reveals tensions and possibilities for redefining why and how we learn about race, ethnicity, and environment. This seems to us a great reflection of Middlebury’s larger educational aspirations.”

The symposium’s program will address issues regarding race and environment. Its organizers hope to aid in the CCSRE’s goal of reaching out to and educating members of the College community.

Amity Doolittle, lecturer and associate research scientist at Yale’s School of Forestry and Environmental Studies, will be giving a talk on indigenous peoples in Southeast Asia. She will focus on how indigenous people have an alternative way of looking at the central issues of climate change.

Yvonne Yen Liu from the Applied Research Center, an organization dedicated to racial justice through media, will be giving a lecture entitled “The Color of Food: Redefining Good Food.” She will discuss the findings of the Applied Research Center in their recent study of race, gender and class of workers along the supply chain of the U.S. food system.

Carl Zimring, assistant professor of social science and sustainability studies at the Roosevelt University in Chicago, will be the keynote speaker. His talk will focus on environmental racism in the context of public hygiene.

Morse praised the speakers and activists that will be contributing to the symposium.

“[Doolittle, Liu, Zimring] and many other of our participants question what constitutes ‘justice’ — environmental and social — and how systems of power and oppression shape physical places and human experiences,” said Morse. “They also are interested in seriously considering why explorations of race, ethnicity and the environment matter and what this can teach us about land and justice and our work at Middlebury and beyond.”

The end of the symposium will include concurrent workshops, which will give participants a hands-on opportunity to explore local, national and global approaches to the themes of the symposium.

One of these workshops will be led by ethnographers Greg Sharrow and Ned Castle. They will discuss their ethnographic research, as well as how a researcher can engage in a successful dialogue with their subject that will invite the subject to share their story.

Another workshop will discuss Latino migrant workers on Vermont farms, with particular focus on their use of language and communication in search of greater justice. The workshop will include role-playing to help participants understand the experiences of workers.

The final workshop will focus on the relationship between African Americans and land in the United States. Participants will be asked to reflect on what such a relationship would look like and envision themselves in a similar situation. The group will focus on the new demands presented to us through this racial lens.

Morse and Burch agreed that this symposium is highly relevant to the College, the community at large and the world.

“One [goal of the symposium] is to build on the previous work from this year that examined race, ethnicity and environment,” they said. “Deepening that conversation reflects our shared interest in sustainability. In short, we want this conversation to remain relevant, meaningful and present.”