Bingo Cards for Racist Bullsh*t in Academia and STEM
A Reflection on Anti-Racist Scholar-Activism
Farhana Sultana (Syracuse University), Sarah Myhre (Rowan Institute), Tessa Hill (UC Davis), Priya Shukla (UC Davis)
In light of ongoing racist incidences and protests in the USA and elsewhere, there have been growing resistance movements and conversations of systemic and structural racism in society. In solidarity with #ShutDownSTEM, #ShutDownAcademia, #Strike4BlackLives and #BlackInIvory in early June 2020, we started pondering easy ways for people to think about systemic racism and how to combat it in academia and STEM fields. This started as a Twitter discussion that quickly morphed into a collaboration. We came up with Bingo Cards that succinctly capture ideas and thoughts that have been thoroughly researched, documented, and extensively discussed in detail by anti-racist, feminist, and social justice scholars and activists (see resources at end). These Bingo Cards can start off conversations that are necessary, encourage reflection and accountability, and foster ongoing discussions for transformative justice.
The Racist Bullsh*t #STEMBingo Cards
These Bingo Cards serve as a reminder that whatever anti-racist education we undertake ourselves, the actual anti-racism behavior begins by shutting down the racist bullsh*t we encounter in academic and STEM on a regular basis. So, certainly consume the anti-racism resources available, but bring those lessons to bear in your own communities.
Moreover, we also want to clarify that how one might hear bullsh*t, respond to bullsh*t, and act to correct racist bullsh*it highly depends on your intersectional positionality in the gender and racial hierarchy of institutions, as well as across a hierarchy of professional risk, power, and safety. So, none of these responses or actions are meant to be universal. Nor do they provide a proper contextualization for trauma-informed approaches to social justice work. So, as you listen and engage, or as you consider using these bingo cards, take care to notice and attend to the response of your body and please prioritize your wellbeing.
The first card consists of common racist tropes and bullshit that occur more generally in academia and STEM. These are comments you may hear in discussions with colleagues.
The second card consists of responses that can be used to call out the above-mentioned bullshit. These are more gut-level responses, and they include a fair amount of sarcasm or frustration that many of us feel.
The third card consists of visions that are necessary to fight structural and institutional racism for transformative justice. These are statements to help move the conversation forward, ground the conversation in effective change, and provide a vision of what the future would look like if we can get there.
To pair with the Action card, we recommend the following curated resources that we all appreciate in moving this conversation forward on university campuses, in committees, in relationships, and in the culture and more widely.
Scaffolded Anti-Racist Resources
You can’t defeat racism with ‘reading lists’. Take it from a feminist — we tried this
