EQUITY, DIVERSITY, AND INCLUSION STATEMENT

In a social engagement course that I taught at the University of Michigan Stamps School of Art & Design in 2023, Social Spaces, we collaborated with the Center for Independent Living Ann Arbor (CIL) to address accessibility needs within our school. I taught this class every semester, but this was the first time that we had focused directly on our own community and its gaps in mutual support and inclusion.

Carmen Papalia is one of the central artists that we used as inspiration for our project. For anyone who is unfamiliar with Papalia’s work, he refers to himself as a non-visual learner (as opposed to “blind,” which carries negative connotations). His manifesto for museums and institutions, Open Access, proposes a rethinking of the terms on which all of us care for and coexist with one another. “It’s an approach that isn’t only relevant to a group of people with atypical bodies or minds or behaviour, but to anybody who is living in relation to other people.”[1] He broadly defines disabling conditions as that which “limits one's agency and potential to thrive.” Papalia’s manifesto for inclusivity speaks to me in the context of the Social Spaces class project, and my current work as Assistant Professor in the Integrative Arts program at York University. 

Here are a few specific examples of how I integrate diversity, equity and inclusion into my classroom so that everyone has the potential to thrive:

  1. I intentionally shift the curriculum away from a European, white male dominated one. This means that I include a wider range of BIPOC, LGBTQ+, indigenous, immigrant, feminist, and non-western examples in the syllabus. In 2018 I received a fellowship from the Center for Learning and Teaching at the University of Michigan to re-write my Live Art Survey course syllabus to be inclusive and further outside of the Western Eurocentric context. I also received Anti-Racist Pedagogy grants two years in a row to invite visiting artists who are racialized people, queer, transgender, female, immigrant, disabled, and/or other identities that are systemically oppressed and often inaccurately represented in the mainstream. This focus has continued in my role as Assistant Professor of Integrative Arts. In a typical semester I allocate course and program funds to invite 2-4 artists to present to the class or publicly. A selection of artists who I have invited include Jen De Los Reyes, Myrtle Sodhi, Julius Poncelet Manapull, Rah Eleh, Lisa Jarrett, Sheetal Prajapati, Patty Gone, Erma Fiend, Raj Brueggemann, Cherry Wood, Miwa Matreyek, Petra Kuppers, Shana Moulton, and Athi Patra-Ruga.

  2. I recognize that my students are coming from different backgrounds and challenges that require individualized attention and support. At the beginning of each semester, I send out a survey to students to learn more about their individual circumstances. I gather general information such as art backgrounds and gender pronouns, in addition to information about work responsibilities, access to technology and quiet study space, and other barriers that might make their learning experience more challenging. Some of my students have official accommodation letters from the Student Accessibility Services, while others have situations that cannot be easily diagnosed or officially supported. What is important to me as an instructor is to make sure that all my students feel seen and heard. I try to offer reasonable flexibility to individual situations, with the disclaimer that steady communication is key. I regularly meet with students outside of class to offer additional support.

  3. I don’t shy away from responding to and facilitating difficult conversations in the classroom. This is particularly relevant to my Ethics in the Arts course at York University, which inherently examines topics such as identity, politics, ableism and privilege, feminist theory, systemic racism, capitalism, colonialism, and the ethics of being an artist in a complex world. I make sure that everyone has a chance to speak and have their ideas heard, and this is supported by a shared set of ground rules that the class establishes together at the beginning of the semester. 

In the report from my second Lecturer Review at the Stamps School of Art & Design in 2023 (which I have included in its entirety in my teaching dossier), the committee included the following comments:

“The committee was particularly impressed by [Emilia’s] sophisticated inclusive teaching methodology, clear and thoughtful assignment scaffolding, and ability to help community building among students, which is particularly valuable at some of the intro level courses that she teaches. Her teaching methodology combines elements of vulnerability (including her own vulnerability) with a great sense of humor, which is a very powerful and engaging approach that effectively opens up room for everybody to participate. She eloquently addresses the ethics of representation in all aspects of her teaching such as by selecting work examples from a diverse set of creatives/studios or by inviting visiting artists to represent a multitude of diverse perspectives in the classroom.”

My Social Spaces class at the University of Michigan had some deeply complex and revelatory conversations. What started as an investigation about disability rights, expanded to touch on intersectionality, person-first vs. identity-first language, systemic oppression, and the intrinsic biases that everyone must recognize and work through daily. These are the most enriching moments for me as a teacher in the classroom, and the ones that I continue to strive to facilitate. 

 [1]  An Accessibility Manifesto for the Arts, Carmen Papalia, January 2, 2018, Canadian Art