The Emotional Aspects of Resistance and Solidarity

Opis projektu

Rola emocjonalnych uprzedzeń w wykluczaniu mniejszości w środowisku akademickim

Dyskryminacja ze względu na płeć i rasę stanowi poważne wyzwanie w środowisku akademickim w skali globalnej. Osoby niepełnosprawne, osoby z niestabilnymi umowami, osoby LGBTQ+ i mniejszości etniczne są niedostatecznie reprezentowane w dziedzinach STEM i filozofii. Są również narażone na nękanie. Aby zwalczyć te formy wykluczenia, ważne jest, aby zająć się bazowym środowiskiem kulturowym. Finansowany z programu MSCA projekt TEARS ma na celu rozwiązanie kwestii molestowania seksualnego i nękania na tle rasowym poprzez identyfikację i demontaż uprzedzeń poznawczych i emocjonalnych, które utrwalają praktyki wykluczające mniejszości. W ramach tego projektu zbadamy, w jaki sposób zarówno osoby, które są uciskane, jak i te, które mogą działać jako uciskające, mogą angażować się w swoje emocje, aby przeciwstawić się uciskowi i wspólnie wspierać integracyjne sposoby wspólnego życia.

Cel

Gender and racial discrimination are critical and pervasive problems in academic institutions world-wide. Apart from being underrepresented in some fields such as STEM and Philosophy gender and racial minorities are disproportionately vulnerable to sexual and racial harassment in Higher Education. In 2021, a report on universities in the UK determined that women were nearly two-and-a-half times as likely to experience sexual violence as men, while staff on insecure contracts, those with disabilities, LGBTQ+, or black, Asian or minority ethnic were also at greater risk. Academic institutions have sometimes sought to remedy to these exclusions by implementing diversity policies aimed at increasing the number of underrepresented groups among staff and students. However, and more problematically, even when diversity policies and measures to fight against sexual and other forms of harassment are in place, academic institutions tend to be more concerned with protecting the institution from reputational damage than with the safety and well-being of the victims. Reports that document the extent of these harms in universities point out that a change of culture is needed. If we do not address the cultural environment that feeds these violent forms of exclusion, diversity and anti-harassment policies will be insufficient. However, as long as we do not understand what makes this culture so persistent, we will lack the appropriate concepts and tools to change it. My contention is that, while sexual and racial harassment are among the most harmful and violent manifestations of oppression, they are rooted in an ecosystem of cognitive and emotional habits that sediment in exclusionary practices against minorities. My research project will be especially concerned with addressing these emotional conditions, by asking how oppressed and oppressors need to engage with their emotions in order to resist against oppression and build more cooperative ways of living together.