The goals of the Committee on Racial Inclusion, Equity and Justice (CRIEJ) are to investigate racial and ethnic diversity within the section, assess the educational and professional climate for scholars of color, recommend changes in section policies and practices, and engage environmental sociologists in laying the foundation for a more inclusive scholarly community. This committee was formed in 2016.<\/p>\n
The Committee on Racial Inclusion, Equity and Justice will assess and challenge ASA\u2019s Section on Environmental Sociology\u2019s racist and exclusionary practices that promote white supremacy and maintain white spaces within the section. The committee will critically address white ignorance and white innocence that exist within and outside of the section. The members of the committee will be guided by an intersectional framework, critical race theory, and Du Boisian emancipatory sociology that center the voices of people who have been marginalized through systemic and historical processes by being open to their experiences, concerns, critiques, and suggestions. We will also work toward tangibly (re)distributing resources within the section so that membership and scholarly work are more accessible to people coming from historically and currently marginalized backgrounds. The committee will challenge the section\u2019s members to critically reflect and take action on both an individual level and as a community on the challenges for racial equity and inclusion and the work necessary to achieve social justice.<\/p>\n
Confronting White Space and White Ignorance:\u00a0A Summary of the Committee on Racial Equity’s Mission and Work, 2016-2019\u00a0(PDF)<\/a><\/p>\n The Section on Environmental Sociology (SES) is a comparatively new section of the American Sociological Association (ASA). The section was officially formed in 1976 as an outgrowth of the U.S. environmental movement and the need to strengthen sociologists\u2019 ability to contribute to environmental impact assessments, which had recently been mandated by national legislation (Caldwell 1988). Over the past four decades, membership in the SES has steadily grown. However, while there have been some gains in diversity in the discipline of sociology as a whole, these gains have not been achieved in the SES (Mascarenhas et al. 2017).<\/p>\n Reflections on \u201cBridging the Gap: Race and the Environment\u201d Mini-Conference\u00a0(PDF)<\/a><\/p>\n The Committee on Racial Equity began preparing for the Bridging the Gap mini-conference in the fall of 2016. Given our concerns about the limited diversity within the Section on Environmental Sociology, we saw the conference as an opportunity to bring diverse practitioners together to imagine a more diverse and inclusive environmental sociology. About one hundred demographically diverse scholars, students, activists, and regulatory scientists participated, making this event a truly watershed moment for Environmental Sociology.<\/p>\n For those of us working at the intersection of race and the environment, we knew this would be a challenging day. Airing one\u2019s fears and frustrations in public is always a risky venture, particularly for those who have much at stake for speaking \u201cout of turn,\u201d or simply being too honest. And survival\u2014both personal and political\u2014the visionary black scholar Audre Lorde (2007) reminds us, is not an academic skill. Much more is always on the line.<\/p>\n