Professors Jorge Santos and Alvaro Jarrin Discuss Critical Race and Ethnic Studies at Holy Cross
Prior to the discussion with Drs. Santos and Jarrin, HC Board of Trustee Member Stan Grayson, ‘72 discussed the origin of the BSU Opportunity Fund, which will be the focus of CHARA’s fundraising efforts this year. We discussed how CHARA could further support this effort and augment the availability of HC-sponsored internships. There will be a more in-depth discussion on internships and the Opportunity Fund scheduled soon.
During our September 14 Zoom Meeting, Professors Jorge Santos and Alvaro Jarrin provided an overview of their vision for a Critical Race and Ethnic Studies program at Holy Cross, beginning with some definitions of critical terms.
Dr. Jarrin began by highlighting the important distinction between race and ethnicity:
Ethnicity is a categorization of people according to their cultural expression, linguistic commonalities, traditions, food, etc. Dividing ethnicity is a common practice around the world. It can lead to discrimination and conflict but does not have the terrible history that race has.
Race is a categorization of people according to their skin color and other physical characteristics. Race is often assumed to be biologically true, but, in fact, has no basis in biology (there is no genetic marker or markers that uniquely separates races; see Wikipedia “Race and Genetics”). Race is a social construction developed around the 1500s to justify slavery and colonialism, because it claimed some races were superior to others (which biological and genetic research has repeatedly shown to be false).
The concept of Whiteness developed slowly over time as scientific racism always sought to contrast the more “civilized” whites against those who were “uncivilized” or “savage”. It was the “white man’s burden” to bring civilization to others.
Irish, Italian, Eastern European, and Jewish people were not considered white initially, and suffered discrimination when they immigrated to the U.S. Over time, most were assimilated into whiteness and gained the associated privileges based on their skin color rather than their ethnicity.
Science has historically been used to justify racism and has shaped framing of scientific questions and political and social policy:
Medicine/biology – reiterated the (false) belief that the white race was superior to all others.
History – only focused on the accomplishments of white peoples and cultures.
Anthropology – described non-white cultures as exotic or primitive.
Literature/English – created a “canon” only made of white authors.
Political Science – described American and European democracies as the best and most developed (erasing Native American democracies or Haitian revolution).
Critical Race Theory (CRT) and Ethnic Studies:
First developed by legal scholars in the 1970s, CRT was developed to explain why equality was not achieved with the Civil Rights movement – how racism had been encoded not only into law but also became a systemic problem in our society and institutions.
CRT and Ethnic Studies/American Studies help correct ongoing biases against people of color in scholarly disciplines by centering on the histories, experiences, and literature of people of color and their intersections with race, class, gender, sexuality and disability.
Most people assume that racism is only interpersonal hatred between groups – so it was supposed to end after segregation ended. CRT is a body of work that describes how racism is systemic (maintained by explicit and implicit bias) and institutionalized in our criminal justice system, financial institutions, our educational system, and even our medical care.
What are the aims of CRT?:
To help provide a framework for new public policies to dismantle institutional and systemic forms of racism.
To educate new generations of students to become anti-racist and be aware of insidious biases.
To tell a more complete history of America or of the world that is not whitewashed or ignores contributions of non-white people.
Challenges facing CRT:
Any positive racial development, like the abolition of slavery or the Civil Rights movement, has been followed by a sharp backlash (Jim Crow segregation, mass incarceration).
Kimberly Crenshaw: it is not a coincidence that CRT is being portrayed as a boogeyman right after the success of the Black Lives Matter movement led to national racial reckoning.
Conservative media is pushing disinformation about CRT.
Dr. Santos provided an overview of the Critical Race and Ethic Studies (CRES) department at Holy Cross that he and others are attempting to create in the wake of George Floyd murder after HC put a call out for educators who wanted to develop anti-racist or critical race-oriented pedagogy in class. A group of professors acknowledged that they were already doing much of this work, but that it was not as visible because it was dispersed across departments (English, Bio, Sociology).
After much discussion on how to make content/curriculum more visible and accessible eight professors developed a proposal for a CRES department to create the visibility and critical mass necessary to flourish by providing the long-term consistency necessary to build a curriculum. A department would also allow for the development of courses arrange by a singular departmental goal rather than by disparate departments. If the CRES department is approved, HC would be a trailblazer. There are no other liberal arts schools on the East coast with this department. CRES has some decent traction, and they are targeting next fall 2022 to get underway.
As part of the CRES effort, classes were audited, and professors were asked which classes they felt would fit under the CRES department umbrella and what would they like to teach as part of this concept. This resulted in a list of 70 courses that fit the CRES model. The current focus in on the best manner to organize courses and how to build a major that is different?
Students can pick from one of 4 tracks to take courses in and also take classes from another track to add breadth to each track (build your own major):
Social Change and Transformation
Representation and Culture
Race and Intersectionality
Transnational Approaches
CHARA members were given the course list and were asked to map their CRES major in small breakouts. We were asked to think about what offerings might be missing, what content should be required curriculum, what might be a good subject for a final course, and what else could be offered. Now we all want to go back to school.
