AAG for All
AAG for All offerings are related to widening the diversity and equity of the discipline, cultivating a culture of inclusion and respect, supporting mental health, and confronting and addressing racism and discrimination. We've included information about the following sessions and opportunities at AAG 2021.
Workshops Sponsored by Harassment-Free AAG Task Force
Training on bystander intervention and disclosure processes.
It’s Everyone’s Responsibility: Concrete Response Strategies For Harassing or Discriminatory Situations 1, April 8, 11:10 AM PDT
It’s Everyone’s Responsibility: Concrete Response Strategies For Harassing or Discriminatory Situations 2, April 10, 11:10 AM PDT
Preparing for Disclosures: How to Respond when Individuals Share That They Have Experienced Discrimination, Harassment or Violence 1, April 8, 1:30 PM PDT
Preparing for Disclosures: How to Respond when Individuals Share That They Have Experienced Discrimination, Harassment or Violence 2, April 10, 1:30 PM PDT
Workshops and Discussions on Diversity and Inclusion in the Geographic Discipline
AAG 2021's nearly 1,000 sessions frequently engage with racial and social justice, diversity and inclusion, and equity. We have listed here a small selection of workshops and conversations that specifically look at the potential for greater diversity and inclusion in the geographic discipline, as well as AAG's role in promoting it. If you believe we have missed a session that should be listed here, let us know.
April 7
Underrepresented Groups in Climatology, April 7, 10:50 AM PDT. This panel focuses on the perspectives and experiences of individuals of underrepresented groups in Climatology and Climate Science and the professional challenges and the corresponding necessary actions of the AAG and other organizations to create a more equitable and inclusive environment in the discipline. The session will include short presentations for each panelist followed by a 30-40 minute discussion and Q&A. Our four panelists are Dr. Marilyn Raphael, Dr. Mika Tosca, Dr. Jimmy Adegoke, and Mr. Manny Hernandez.
Contesting, Negotiating, Living: New Research Directions in Mental Health I: Disability, mental health, and education in the post-COVID-19 university, April 7, 1:30 PM PDT. As universities scramble to devise new policies to restore the disruption to “campus life,” it is important to consider the ways in which the pre-COVID campus was already an isolating place, especially for scholars already marginalized in the academy’s spaces and structures of knowledge production. This panel will consider how the academy reproduces ableist spaces; the scholars that emerge from and are molded by these spaces; and the types of research that are (im)possible here. We invite scholars to discuss how our new COVID-19 reality is transforming our academic spaces and how emerging standards of knowledge production (e.g. technologies to maintain academic integrity) are creating new ableist barriers and reinforcing old ones. This conversation is more important than ever given emerging knowledge of the long-term health effects of this virus. Part of a two-part series sponsored by the Mental Health Affinity Group.
April 8
More than Mentoring: Towards a More Equitable and Just Geography, April 8, 11:10 AM PDT. Mentorship is a major part of making a more diverse and equitable discipline possible, but what does effective mentorship of diverse geographers look like? What does the next generation of geographers need from more established geographers to thrive within the discipline? This panel comprised of graduate students, early-career academics, and established faculty members/researchers, will seek to answer these questions, bringing in their own personal experiences to contemplate on what mentorship looks like to them, how they plan to leverage these experiences in order to push for a more open and diverse discipline and contemplate what further steps may need to be taken in order to reach this goal. Co-sponsored by the Indigenous Peoples Specialty Group and AAG Careers and Professional Development.
JEDI is listening: Justice, Equity, Diversity and Inclusion in Geography, a Listening Session, April 8, 1:30 PM PDT. Members of the AAG Diversity and Inclusion Committee will provide a brief overview of the activity of the committee this past year on behalf of AAG membership and share some overarching concerns and trends. Session attendees are invited to breakout room conversations about practices for integrating justice, equity, diversity and inclusion in geography at multiple levels. Regrouping all participants towards the end of the session will focus on sharing ideas and observations about best practices with committee members so that input may be brought back into the tasks of the committee. Sponsored by the American Association of Geographers, Careers and Professional Development.
So You Care About Indigenous Scholars?: Presenting an Indigenous-led Comic Poster Series with Ad Astrix Comics,
April 8, 1:30 PM PDT. Academic institutions are Indigenous places. Universities are located on Indigenous lands, teach Indigenous geographies, and serve Indigenous faculty, staff, and students. Yet at the same time that Indigenous scholars are persisting as leaders in the academy, they experience a particular set of violences, which are not shared by their non-Indigenous counterparts. To celebrate Indigenous peoples’ ongoing survival, resistance and resurgence, and to advocate for a more just academy, this group came together through an Indigenous-led collective for an arts-based intervention: creating a set of comic art posters that promote anti-racist alternatives to an extractive academy. In October 2020, we published four posters in the “So You Care About Indigenous Scholars” series with Ad Astra Comix. The posters are free to download, print, and use through a creative commons license here.
Walking the Tightrope: Practical Ideas for Women to Advocate for Themselves and Others, April 8, 1:30 PM PDT. The seventh annual workshop in a series of themes addressing career advancement and success for women in geography. This year’s workshop will introduce discussions and tools to promote women's self-advocacy for career advancement, managing uncertainty, solving problems, and seeking new experiences. Whether it is negotiating for salaries or raises, or advocating for broader improvements in the professional landscape, this mindset fosters clear communication, asset management, and success.
Refusing Neoliberal Diversity Work in the Imperial University, April 8, 3:05 PM PDT. This paper session explores, the words of the organizers, "the uneven geographies of labor, resources, and power within the discipline [of geography] itself" and questions the positioning of diversity work within the academy, relative to U.S. imperialism, settler colonialism, and nationalism. Co-sponsored by the Black Geographies Specialty Group, Indigenous Peoples Specialty Group, and Socialist and Critical Geography Specialty Group, and part of the Disability Geographies Specialty Group curated track.
Building Inclusive Communities and Diverse Departments, Supporting Women in Geography 8th Annual Panel, April 8, 4:40 PM PDT. This panel intends to address the challenges of inclusivity and diversity in departments and non-academic institutions, defined broadly to consider the cross-cutting aspects of race, gender, sexuality, indigeneity, disability, and other overlapping subjectivities. We hope to bring together panelists and audience members interested in and committed to facilitating discussion around building inclusive communities and diverse departments in Geography. Co-sponsored by the Feminist Geographies Specialty Group, Queer and Trans Geographies Specialty Group, Black Geographies Specialty Group, and AAG Careers and Professional Development. Part of the Black Geographies curated track.
Neurodiversity in the Academy, April 8, 4:40 PM PDT
Following the lead of several panel discussions that have been held over the past few AAG meetings related to mental health in the academy, this session is being organized to create a space for broad discussion of neurodiversity and/in the academy. Rather than a traditional panel session, it is being organized as an open space for facilitated discussion among anyone with thoughts on or an interest in this topic -- regardless of neurotype or focus of professional work.
April 9
Geospatial Health Symposium 7: Intersectionality, GIScience, & Public Health, April 9, 1:30 PM PDT. Sponsored by the Health and Medical Geography Specialty Group, this session asks how geographers can thoughtfully, meaningfully, and appropriately integrate more rigorous conceptual frameworks, like intersectionality, to underpin, drive, and challenge GIScience methods in public health research. Part of the Disability Specialty Group curated track.
April 10
Developing Women Leaders for Healthy Departments and Universities, April 10, 1:30 PM. A panel of women from numerous insitutions, including AAG Vice President Emily Yeh, discuss challenges and opportunities for developing leadership among women in Geography. Sponsored by AAG Careers and Professional Development. Part of the Department Leadership curated track.
Increasing Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion in Biogeography, April 10, 4:40 PM PDT. Panelists will discuss overcoming challenges in biogeography and addressing ways into increase diversity, equity, and inclusion in the field. This panel will bring together faculty and students with varying amounts of experience to discuss how we navigate biogeography, include more diversity in the field, and support underrepresented individuals. Co-sponsored by the Biogeography Specialty Group and AAG Careers and Professional Development.
Networking Events that Support Diversity and Inclusion
Throughout the meeting, AAG's Career and Mentoring Sessions provide support to students and young geographers.
AAG's Specialty Groups Business Meetings and Affinity Group Business Meetings are a great way to engage with our nearly 80 specialty and affinity groups, many of which focus on or incorporate issues relevant to diversity, equity, inclusion, and justice. You do not need to be a member to attend.
April 9
Feminist Geographies Specialty Group Book Celebration, 9:00 AM PDT
April 10 n/a
April 11
Meetup for International Graduate Students and Early Career Geographers 6:25 AM PDT
