Welcome to NR 6 Race and Culture in Natural Resources

Rubenstein School of Environment & Natural Resources
Fall 2012

Meets: 11:30 - 12:45, Tuesdays, September 4 - November 15 in Angell B106 and Thursdays in section rooms listed below:

Discussion Section Rooms by Facilitator (for most, your first-year adviser):

TA: Kirsten Brewer

Race and Culture in Natural Resources introduces first-year students to selected issues of race and culture and their relevance to society, natural resources, and the environment. We encourage students to be candidly self-reflective about how they perceive these issues.

We alternate between plenary sessions on Tuesdays with guest speakers or videos and small-group discussion sections on Thursdays led by members of The Rubenstein School faculty, staff, and graduate student community. Their role is to facilitate discussion of issues and not to lecture.

Guest speakers and videos explore topics such as concepts of cultural competency, race, racism, and culture; cultural perspectives on environmental issues; environmental justice, the under-representation of people of color in traditional environmental groups; and their role in the environmental justice movement. We examine issues of identity, privilege, and oppression and consider their relevance to fields of study in The Rubenstein School. Students write reflective papers and an autobiographical essay, and they develop individual plans for next steps to make positive contributions with respect to the issues we explore.

Course Purposes

• To provide students with opportunities and encouragement to become more conscious of and reflective about their identity vis a vis race and ethnicity and their experiences with racism in the United States.
• To provide students with an introductory understanding of how dynamics of racism (prejudice plus power) are relevant to the field of environment and natural resources.
• To provide students with an opportunity to get to know and interact with their advisers in a small group.

Course Objectives
By the end of the course students will have:

• Increased their consciousness of/reflection on their personal identity and personal experiences with environment, race, ethnicity, and racism;
• Increased their consciousness of institutional racism as it relates to natural resources and environment;
• Developed a next steps plan for making positive contributions to the university community and to society with respect to issues of race and culture.

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