Smiling to their Faces: Race, Emotional Labour and the University

April 29th, 2018 to May 2nd, 2018 INTRODUCTION https://smilingtotheirfaces.pwias.ubc.ca/ Peter Wall Institute International Research Roundtable There a strong narrative in academia that the university is post-race, or is exempt from the daily effects of implicit bias and racism because it cultivates scientific knowledge, the life of the mind, and scholarly objectivity. In fact, academia is an environment in which racial dynamics play out in an exacerbated fashion. The academic profession is characterized by subjective standards for productivity and excellence, so that a small group of individuals determines what work is worthy of merit and what labour counts as service. Faculty of colour, notoriously underrepresented in the western academy, must therefore prove not only that their contributions are worthy within the subjective standards set out by the mostly white academy, but that they are exceptions to the racial stereotypes that inform white subjectivities to begin with, in part, by out performing their white counterparts. This results in a “cultural taxation” in which faculty of colour must take on additional labour to prove their worth, including but not limited to supporting institutional claims of ethnic representation; engaging daily with racialized and patriarchal epistemologies and hierarchies that structure the disciplines and organs of the university; acting as experts on ethno-racial groups; serially re-educating the university and mainstream audiences about structural racism and the intersectionality of race and gender; and mentoring and administering care to under-served students and minority students, especially during times of public or national crisis. As a result of this added labour—often invisible, unrecognized, and unaccounted for—careers can be stalled, job satisfaction lessened, and definitions of academic excellence narrowed. This workshop will be centrally concerned with making these invisible forms of labour visible, especially “emotional labor”. We want to expand and extend how we think about the emotional labour of faculty of colour, how that labour ultimately benefits educational institutions, how it shapes the lives and careers of faculty of colour, and what kinds of structural and institutional changes would be necessary to make Historically White Institutions (HWI’s) more equitable intellectual, social, and work environments. The workshop will focus on identifying the kinds of emotional labours that are extracted from faculty of colour and will conclude with discussions of how HWI’s can count and account for such labour Contact Dr. Ayesha S. Chaudhry, Institute for Gender, Race, Sexuality and Social Justice UBC PUBLIC EVENT April 29th, 2018 Smiling to their Faces: Race, Emotional Labour and the University 2:00pm to 4:00pm 580 W Hastings St, Vancouver, BC V6B 5K3 Wosk Conference Centre, Strategy Room 420 REGISTER PARTICIPANTS Ayesha S. Chaudhry Associate Professor and Canada Research Chair in Religion, Law and Social Justice at the Social Justice Institute at UBC More » Read more Rumee Ahmed Associate Dean of Communication and Innovation, Faculty of Arts; Associate Professor of Islamic Law, University of British Columbia More » Read more Aisha M. Beliso-De Jesús Professor, African American Religions, Harvard Divinity School More » Read more Joyce M. Bell Associate Professor and the Don A. Martindale endowed Chair of Sociology, University of Minnesota More » Read more Anver M. Emon Professor and Canada Research Chair in Religion, Pluralism, and the Rule of Law at the University of Toronto Faculty of Law More » Read more Denise Ferreira Da Silva Director, Professor, Institute for Gender, Race, Sexuality and Social Justice More » Read more Ronald Garcia Associate Professor, Computer Science, University of British Columbia More » Read more Ross Gay Ruth Lilly Professor of Poetry, Indiana University; Boardmember, the Bloomington Community Orchard More » Read more Saida Grundy Assistant Professor, Sociology & African American Studies, Boston University More » Read more Arvind Gupta Distinguished Visiting Professor, University of Toronto More » Read more Daniel Justice Professor, First Nations and Indigenous Studies and English, University of British Columbia; Canada Research Chair in Indigenous Literature and Expressive Culture More » Read more Kristiana Kahakauwila Associate Professor, Creative Writing, Western Washington University; Faculty in the Low-Residency MFA, Institute of American Indian Art (IAIA) More » Read more Sheryl Lightfoot Associate Professor, First Nations and Indigenous Studies and Department of Political Science, University of British Columbia; Canada Research Chair in Global Indigenous Rights and Politics More » Read more Minelle Mahtani Associate Professor, Department of Human Geography and the Program in Journalism, University of Toronto, Scarborough More » Read more Renisa Mawani Professor, Department of Sociology, University of British Columbia; Chair of the Law and Society Program, University of British Columbia More » Read more Alyssa Mt. Pleasant Assistant Professor More » Read more Laurence Ralph Professor, Anthropology and African American Studies, Harvard University More » Read more Michael L. Walker Assistant Professor, Department of Sociology, University of Minnesota More » Read more Ian Williams Assistant Professor, Department of Creative Writing, University of British Columbia More » Read more Reiko Yamada Composer, Sound Artist More » Read more Aftab Erfan Director of Dialogue and Conflict Engagement More » Read more SCHEDULE April 29th, 2018 Sunday 2:00pm to 8:00pm 2-4PM - Public Event "Smiling to their Faces: Race, Emotional Labour and the University" 4-6PM - Reception at Ayesha’s apartment, Workshop participants (by invitation only) 6-8PM - Dinner — Organizing Committee Dinner hosted by Ayesha and out of town guests hosted by Rumee. April 30th, 2018 Monday [Closed to Participants] 10:00am to 8:00pm 6331 Crescent rd, Vancouver BC 10-10:30AM - Welcome: Sheryl Lightfoot 10:30-12PM- Accessing the Emotional Labour Tax Refund (Ayesha S. Chaudhry) 12-1PM - Lunch 1-2:30PM - Considering Love and Other Tools in the Emotional Labor Toolboxes of Faculty of Colour (Alyssa Mt. Pleasant) 2:30-3PM - Break 3-4:30PM - Structural Tenderness (Ross Gay) 4:45-5:15PM - Reflections (Ronald Garcia, Michael Walker) 6-8PM - Dinner (for out of town guests) May 1st, 2018 Tuesday [Closed to Participants] 10:00am to 8:00pm 6331 Crescent rd, Vancouver BC 10-10:30AM - Intentions (Sai Grundy and Ian Williams) 10:30-12PM- On Radical Commonalities (Laurence Ralph ) 12-1PM - Lunch 1-2:30PM - Consuming Diversity (Joyce Bell) 2:30-3PM - Break 3PM-4:30PM- Curative Strategies for Academic Oppression (Aisha Beliso De-Jesus) 4:45-5:15 - Reflections (Denise Ferreira Da Silva, Arvind Gupta, Minelle Mahtani) 6-8PM - Dinner (for out of town guests) May 2nd, 2018 Wednesday [Closed to Participants] 10:00am to 9:00pm Closed to the participants 6331 Crescent rd, Vancouver BC 10-10:30AM - Intentions (Rumee Ahmed and Anver Emon) 10:30-12PM- Curative Strategies for Academic Oppression (Aisha Beliso De-Jesus) 12-1PM - Lunch 1-2:30PM - Decolonizing Shells (Tiana Kahakauwila) 2:30-3PM - Break 3-4PM - Debrief, Next Steps: Ayesha S. Chaudhry 4-4:30PM - Reflections (Daniel Justice and Renisa Mawani) 4:30-6PM - Reception (all participants) 7-9PM - Dinner (for out of town guests) CONTACT Peter Wall Institute Seminar Room 6331 Crescent Rd Vancouver, BC V6T 1Z2