LISTSERV - AEJMAC-L Archives

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Date:         Wed, 11 Sep 2002 09:33:33 -0400
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From: "Karen M. Turner" <[log in to unmask]>
Subject:      FW: [SCATFAC] Discussion part II: Race and gender in communication
Comments: To: HERS <[log in to unmask]>
To: [log in to unmask]
In-Reply-To:  <3D7B8EE5.19467.14263AE@localhost>

I think you will find this posting of interest.
-kt
***********************************************
Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.
Martin Luther King Jr., Letter from Birmingham Jail,
April 16, 1963

Karen M. Turner
Chair & Associate Professor
Department of Journalism, Public Relations & Advertising
2020 N. 13th Street, 2nd floor
Temple University
Philadelphia, PA 19122
215.204.8386 (voicemail)/ 215.204.1974 (fax)
***********************************************
----------
From: Matthew Lombard <[log in to unmask]>
Organization: Temple University
Reply-To: Matthew Lombard <[log in to unmask]>
Date: Sun, 8 Sep 2002 17:54:45 -0400
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: [SCATFAC] Discussion part II: Race and gender in communication

FROM THE SCATFAC LISTSERV:

[These messages about the role of race and gender in the
academic field of communication, followed the workload
discussion on the VIS-COM listserv. The final message is from a
SCAT alum. Again, apologies for cross-postings...

--Matthew ]


From:    Mike Cuenca <[log in to unmask]>
Subject:        Re: [vis-com] we are so lucky!
Date sent: Fri, 30 Aug 2002 13:13:18 -0500

All-

What has been most amazing about following this dialog is that
those of you who are engaged in it are the people who do the
most for this "industry" (for lack of a better word.) Paul, Jean,
Joel, thom, and others of you who are the most active outside
your own institutions are doing the most to help keep vis-com
education at its cutting edge. Regardless of your varying
workloads, most of you are the de facto leaders and the heart
and soul of visual communications academe. You're all to be
commended.

And, as Jean said, you're also all very lucky to have your jobs,
whatever your work loads. Because when it comes right down to
it, for many professors tenure is not about accomplishment in the
classroom, nor is it about performance as a scholar or
professional. Tenure is often about race and sex and politics and
personalities. If an institution wants to grant someone tenure, it
will. If that institution doesn't want to grant someone tenure, it
won't. And it can defend either position, knowing full well that
few, if any, people will speak up against the institution or make
sense of their standards. (Of course, those who are granted
tenure will always defend the system as being solely merit
based--even if they're one of the ones who truly deserved it but
who can still see the abuses around them--because to accept the
system as broken might mean that they'd have to consider that
they also didn't deserve it. This is sad because it's those people
who are the most protected and have the least to lose by
standing up.) Of course, everyone knows it happens, but few
have the guts to acknowledge any individual victims.

Keep up the good work. And look around you for the missing
faces of those with "other" skin colors, cultures and politics. I'm
looking forward to the day that it starts to really bother you.

_________________________
Mike Cuenca
Humanities Program Director
The Civil Society Group, LLP
3019 Longhorn Dr.
Lawrence, KS 66049

Research Associate
Haskell Environmental Research Studies Center
Haskell Indian Nations University
Lawrence, KS 66046

785-842-8954 (home office)
785-838-9617 (fax)
785-691-6927 (cellular)

mailto:[log in to unmask]
Vita/Resume: http://www.mikecuenca.com
Domain: http://www.seekpeace.com

*********************************************************

From:   Jean Trumbo <[log in to unmask]>
Subject:        [vis-com] Racism (long but important)
Date sent: Mon, 02 Sep 2002 01:10:29 -0500

Is White the Only Color in Visual Communication Education?

How would we feel if as designers or photographers we lived with
a monochromatic color palette? How would we feel if our pull
down menus gave us only one color option ‹ white?

I am a white woman who grew up in a culture of other white
people where discrimination meant being Irish Catholic in a
largely German Lutheran town. Bigotry was a small stakes issue
except when I was not allowed to date Lutheran boys. At the
time, that was a big deal.

When I entered the work force I learned that discrimination
based on sex is a real thing.  I learned to fight for my rights.  I
learned to challenge a system that would allow a colleague to
pinch my behind or make demeaning comments about other
body parts. In my career I have been referred to as "window
dressing," "added aesthetic value," and "cute as a blue speckled
pup" by different administrators at different campuses. Iąm not
kidding. At 40 or so, I am not quite the blue speckled pup that I
was at 26 when I started teaching. The funny thing is that I didnąt
find those descriptions flattering then and I still donąt. It was
sexist and it struck a nerve with me that was palpable. I didnąt
always have the tools to fight but one of the benefits of
experience is the time Iąve had to hone the tools.  I am a devoted
colleague and good departmental citizen to men and to women
but I donąt accept that kind of junk anymore whether it is directed
toward me or toward others.  A few years ago, one of my
colleagues referred to me as a "No bullshit broad," and for the
first time in two decades I relaxed into such a flagrantly sexist
comment because I realized that it was true. I have the tools and
I know how to use them.

I learned to fight sexism without leaving too many bodies in my
wake.  I learned to fight for salary and benefits. I have a great
career. Sexism is something that I feel empowered to deal with
and I feel educated enough to help others. It doesnąt always work
out fairly, but thanks to those who came before me the academy
is a much better place for women than it used to be.

It has become increasingly clear to me that race is an issue that I
do not know enough about.  Iąm being educated on the topic by
some of my colleagues who do not happen to be white.  I have
noticed at our annual conference that diversity is not one of our
strong suits.  In fact, the only real differences in color that Iąve
noticed among the visual communication group over the years
are the seasonal tans and the changing hair color of colleagues.

Why are we so white? And, whose voices are not being heard in
the classroom because of this?  Can a group of educators who
are monochromatic really provide multi-cultural perspectives to
our students?  I know that each of us work hard to do this.  We
pat ourselves on the back when we develop great lectures on the
use of Native American images as sports mascots, or when we
explore the issues associated with darkening an image of O.J.
Simpson on the cover of a magazine.  I know that I work hard to
do these things because I see the diversity of my students and I
want to do the right thing.   We are a group of good people who
happen to be predominantly white, Caucasian. I canąt think of a
mean-spirited member of the visual communication group. We
support each other.  We share. We laugh. We want to make the
world a better place one classroom at a time. I doubt that we
think of ourselves as racist.

A startling fact is that the colleagues that I have challenged on
issues of sexism did not think of themselves as sexist either.
Each individual was shocked to learn that I did not like being
treated as a sexual object in the workplace.  In one instance, the
colleague involved was so upset at his own behavior (dirty jokes,
grabbing and pinching) that not only did he tearfully apologize to
me, he also voluntarily attended training on sexual harassment.
He learned.  Of course, there were remnants of sexism in his
personality. He was not "cured."  But I remain impressed that he
stepped up, took responsibility and worked to change his
behavior. We remain good friends. Through this experience and
others, I learned to stick up for myself without fear. I learned that
salary and tenure are negotiable but that dignity is not.

Racism among faculty is an issue that makes me uncomfortable.
I donąt think of myself as racist because the group of people that
I consider friends is quite diverse. Nonetheless, I am guilty of
ignoring the lack of diversity in my own field.  Like many of us, I
spend a great deal of my time working and it bothers me that the
lack of diversity in our field hasnąt bothered me enough.

Oh, Iąve done some of the right things over the years.  For
example, I once served on a search committee that labeled a
Jewish, black woman candidate as a "home run" meaning that
not only was she a woman, but she was Jewish and she was
black.  One committee member said, "the only thing that would
be better is if she were disabled, too."  That experience bothered
me enough that I spoke up, I wrote a formal complaint, I tried to
explain why I thought the dialogue was racist, sexist, and
demeaning.  I was not successful in convincing colleagues, but at
least I didnąt feel complicit. Not surprisingly, she is no longer an
academic because she was not supported by faculty in the
department that she joined. In fact, neither was I.  Weąve both
gone on to better things and better places but there is no
question that the culture was personally damaging. It was a long
time ago and Iąve largely forgotten about it, until recently.

We can and do blame the lack of minority representation in visual
communication education on many things. For example, we
become comfortable believing that 1) there are no candidates of
color who would like to join our field; 2) we select candidates
based on qualification with no consideration for ethnicity; 3) we
support candidates as they pursue tenure based on merit with no
consideration of race.  If all of these things are true, we convince
ourselves, that weąve done enough. I think weąre wrong. And, I
feel uncomfortable as hell about it.

Twenty-five or 30 years ago when women looked around the
academy and noticed a white, male majority some of my
predecessors opened the door and progress was made. It is
largely acceptable now to admit that sexism exists on campuses.
Some of us feel empowered to step up and fight it. The culture
has changed ever so slowly.  Nonetheless, there are still
problems in many fields and at many institutions. Women do not
occupy positions of power on many campuses, but weąve grown
comfortable seeing that there has been change. Today being a
woman in our field is not such a bad life. It would be easy for me
to relax at this point in my career, because the sexist demons in
my path no longer scare me. I know the rules, I know the law,
and I no longer take it personally.  It is ignorance and bigotry and
power that lead to sexism.  I am of the mind that if colleagues
donąt want to "play" fairly with a woman, tough. Iąll go around
them or over them or Iąll fight until the last dog is standing, but I
will continue to "play." Thatąs been my own personal battle in the
academy and it really hasnąt been that bad. Iąm still standing.

But, I think I have relaxed. The lack of color in my chosen field
has been visible to me for some time, and Iąve been willing to do
little bits here and there to deal with situations as they occur to
me.  I am hardly an activist on the topic, though. While Iąve been
sitting at the pool working on my tan or changing my hair color,
the field is no more diverse than when I began teaching. A big,
cold bucket of water was recently lodged over the e-mail fence at
me from a colleague screaming, "What a minute!  Racism is
rampant.  Just because youąre not a bigot in some areas does
not mean that you are arenąt oppressing others through blind
neglect."

Iąm awake now and I realize that I have no legitimate response.
Iąm uncomfortable again and I am ignorant again.  Not stupid,
certainly, but ignorant of the issues facing minorities in our field. I
get the part about sexism but like a sloppy research project,
there are variables that I have overlooked in order to reach a
conclusion.  I retract my submission.  I want to work on the data
some more.  I want to move beyond my own comfort level and
understand why such good people in such good places are so
damn white.

As visual communication educators weąve taught one another
about ethics, technology, research methods, history, and
countless other topics that are important to our students.  I want
to be educated on issues of race in our own profession.  I do not
want to be part of the problem. I want to attend a visual
communication conference where the business meeting, the
luncheon, the sessions, and the after-hours socials are filled with
colleagues who are not like me.

Our professional color palette is ridiculously narrow.  Weąd be
livid if a Dean told us that we could only design in black and
white.  Weąre all familiar with the visible spectrum and I, for one,
want to see it represented. Why are we so white? And, more
importantly what are we going to do about it?


Jean Trumbo
Associate Professor
Reynolds School of Journalism, MS/310
University of Nevada, Reno
Reno, NV  89511
office: 775-784-4752
home: 775-624-0962
FAX: 775-784-6656
e-mail: [log in to unmask]

*********************************************************

From:    "Maria Santana" <[log in to unmask]>
Subject:         [vis-com] I disagree, I think it is very important!
Date sent: Mon, 2 Sep 2002 12:58:12 -0400

Jean,
    I salute you on your observations. Your essay should find its
way to a printed form. You are so right about your comments on
sexism and about VIS COM not having ethnical diversity. I know
because I am Cuban, raised in Puerto Rico and a Vis Com
member since 1994. Some of the designs I prefer are pages that
most people will not like. Our business is Mass Communication
teaching and we have to understand our audience. Indeed, our
audience is and will continue to change in color, age, and culture.
We, as educators, should continue to strive for a more open
ending solution. I do not think a white person lacks ethnicity. I
believe we all do and I celebrate the differences as well as the
commonalities. All I do in my classroom is to give my students
choices; perhaps that is how I built in diversity and inclusion. The
examples not always come from design books or even award
winning entries but for magazines and newspapers breaking the
norm. I think my students learn to see differently and to take
chances. In the future, they will be winning the award and writing
the textbooks. How could they like the same things I do today
when their future is still in the making? M C Santana

[Nicholson School of Communications
University of Central Florida
Orlando, Florida ]



___________________________________________
Matthew Lombard, Ph.D.
Associate Professor
Director, Mass Media & Communication Ph.D. Program
Temple University

(215) 204-7182
[log in to unmask]
http://matthewlombard.com

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