Contextualizing Systemic Injustice: Mapping the Complexity of Racism in the US

Since June 2020, the NECR program has hosted weekly Dialogue Forums with our students, alumni, and faculty. On a voluntary basis, during this tumultuous year, we joined together on weekly calls that were characterized by an open agenda to talk about what the participants of that call wanted to discuss.

From this Dialogue Forum, a working group on antiracism was initiated. This working group launched a project using Dynamical Systems Theory, one of the methods we use in the NECR program, to capture the historical complexity of race in the US. In small groups, we are looking at four different periods of time between 1619-today and are creating a series of historical maps of systemic racism in the US. Groups identify elements that are present at different levels of systemic analysis (micro, meso, and macro) and discuss how these elements related to each other, and how they played a role in the creation and continuation of systemic racism in the US, including their economic, political, and social implications.

Please join us for a panel conversation with instructors, alumni, and students who will discuss the weekly dialogues, the mapping process, the work in progress, and learnings.

For questions, please contact Kjerstin E. Pugh, kep2137 [[at]] columbia [[dot]] edu.

For additional information about program offerings at Columbia University’s School of Professional Studies, please contact an Admissions Counselor at 212-854-9666 or inquire [[at]] sps [[dot]] columbia [[dot]] edu.