Diversity and Inclusion

The Department of Anthropology is committed to fostering a diverse, equitable and socially just community of students, faculty, and staff. We reject all forms of prejudice and discrimination in classrooms, offices, laboratories, fieldwork sites and other settings. We value and celebrate the diversity of the human experience that encompasses race/ethnicity, class, gender, citizenship, sexuality, religion and spiritual beliefs, language, age, and ability. We recognize these identities intersect in multiple and complex ways, privileging some and disenfranchising others. We are committed to providing safe and inclusive learning environments that promote respect for difference, challenge stereotypes, embrace individual experiences, and advance scholarship and advocacy of historically marginalized groups.

We recognize our potential impact on communities around the world, including where our field was built on a foundation of colonialism and sexism. We acknowledge the damage done by some anthropological work, especially to communities of color, women and gender and sexual minorities. As a department, we support work that makes positive contributions in the communities in which we conduct research. We also recognize our obligation to review the legacies of our field and to transform our current practices, where necessary, to ensure just relationships and sound research.

As part of our ongoing commitment to tackling inequality, our department commits to:

• Nurturing inclusive, equitable, and welcoming environments, whether in our classrooms, research fields, or administrative offices.
• Building a diverse student body, faculty, and staff by recruiting and retaining students, scholars, faculty, and staff from under-represented communities.
• Addressing power inequities and privilege in research, learning, and departmental contexts.
• Maintaining zero tolerance for sexual misconduct in the classroom, laboratory, field, and other work and research settings.
• Promoting scholarship and advocacy of historically excluded groups.
• Supporting diverse intellectual traditions and voices in the classroom.
• Ensuring inclusivity in governance by appropriate representation on departmental committees.
• Creating a Department Committee on Diversity, Equity and Inclusion starting in 2023 to address our commitments outlined in this statement, which we will revisit annually.

The following diversity-related resources are available through UB:

• UB Student Life: Intercultural and Diversity Center
• UB College of Arts and Science: Center for Diversity Innovation
• UB: Office of Equity, Diversity and Inclusion