Toward Inclusive Excellence Podcast

Camille T. Dungy, University Distinguished Professor of English at Colorado State University, joins Toward Inclusive Excellence Editor-in-Chief Alexia Hudson-Ward to discuss her latest book, Soil: The Story of a Black Mother’s Garden. An author of prose and poetry, Camille explains how she planned for the title to be a collection of nature poems, but while writing—crucially, in 2020 during the COVID-19 pandemic—she was instead inspired by her ongoing project to transform her yard into a space with diverse, native plants. Recounting the seven-year journey of her garden, Camille interweaves key environmental justice texts and nature writing to underscore the importance of diversifying both our gardens and environmental literature.

In the episode, Camille chats about the development of Soil and how the pandemic influenced her writing. Further, she highlights the drawbacks of cynical, doom-filled environmental writing that positions the natural world and human beings at odds. As Camille argues, this position prevents new members from joining the environmental movement, because “…a lot of people just assume that they have no place in the environmental movement because the environmental movement has no place for people.” In addition, Camille describes environmental justice as central to her writing and ethics, emphasizing social and environmental justice as one and the same. To close, she digs into her experiences with homeowners association (HOA) rules in her neighborhood and the complexity of her relationship with gardening and leisure as a Black woman.

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Dr. Martha S. Jones, Society of Black Alumni Presidential Professor, Professor of History, and Professor at the SNF Agora Institute at Johns Hopkins University, returns to the podcast to discuss her research project Hard Histories at Hopkins, which investigates the history of racism, discrimination, and slavery at Johns Hopkins University and its impact on the institution and communities in Baltimore. Toward Inclusive Excellence editor-in-chief Alexia Hudson-Ward chats with Martha on the development and genesis of the project, outlining its aim to “lift the hood” of the scholarly process with a webinar series and weekly posts on Substack. In addition, Martha highlights the contributions of Hard Histories’ student-led labs that provide consistent updates and continuity to the project throughout the year.

Further, Martha digs into why this work is labeled as “hard,” explaining the emotional and psychological toll that studying slavery takes on scholars and her own personal experience with this research. Speaking to the project’s impact at Johns Hopkins, Martha explains how it affects the legacy and standing of an institution as a pillar for education. To close, Martha and Alexia follow-up on their 2021 conversation on the banning of Martha’s book, Vanguard: How Black Women Broke Barriers, Won the Vote, and Insisted on Equality for All. Underscoring the threat book bans and censorship pose to American education, Martha reiterates the need to stay vigilant amongst efforts to sanitize the past and endanger democratic freedom.

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Ekow Eshun, author of In the Black Fantastic, joins Toward Inclusive Excellence editor-in-chief Alexia Hudson-Ward to discuss the book’s development and how it acts as a mode of possibility for Black freedom and liberation. A companion piece to the 2022 art exhibition at London’s Hayward Gallery, In the Black Fantastic weaves together fables, myths, science fiction, and speculative fiction from throughout the African diaspora to explore Black culture and lived experiences. The title includes various creative disciplines—music, film, visual art, and more—that pull from African stories and knowledge systems to demonstrate the freedom of Black speculative thought and how it can inform the everyday.

In the conversation, Ekow describes Black speculative fiction and Afrofuturism as forms of resistance, highlighting the story of the Flying Africans and how it’s alluded to in contemporary works like Song of Solomon by Toni Morrison, Lemonade by Beyonce, and Black Panther, directed by Ryan Coogler. Further, Ekow explains how Black creatives occupying the traditionally exclusionary genres of science fiction and the supernatural bring forth non-Western forms of knowledge. Positioning identity as a fluid way of being, Ekow denounces reductive views of race and the binaries that have long restricted and reduced Black interiority. Amidst ongoing threats to DEI efforts, Ekow underscores the power of inclusivity demonstrated in his book and how it offers hope for the future in its multitudes of Black dreaming without disregarding past and continuing struggles for racial equality.

Find Ekow's book: https://mitpress.mit.edu/9780262047258/in-the-black-fantastic/

Read more on the TIE blog: https://www.choice360.org/toward-inclusive-excellence/

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This episode features Katie Zimmerman, Director of Copyright Strategy for the MIT Libraries, and Jonathan Band of policybandwidth, two legal experts who turn their attention to the recent Supreme Court case, Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, Inc. v. Goldsmith. Decided in May 2023, this case explored issues of copyright and fair use through silkscreen prints by artist Andy Warhol, which he based on an image by photographer Lynn Goldsmith of the musician Prince. The Court sided with Goldsmith, arguing that the prints were not a valid form of fair use for copyrighted content, therefore raising concerns in the Galleries, Libraries, Archives and Museum (GLAM) community. In this episode, hosted by TIE Editor-in-Chief Alexia Hudson-Ward, the guests discuss the major implications of this ruling, paying particular attention to the impact on creativity detailed in the dissenting opinion. They also dig into the more puzzling components of the case’s journey through the court system, guidance for GLAM workers to avoid violating copyright law, and how this case might come into play regarding creative works generated by artificial intelligence.

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In the second episode of this two-part series, Jordan Clark, Assistant Director of the Harvard University Native American Program (HUNAP) and an enrolled member of the Wampanoag Tribe of Aquinnah, discusses the urgency and practicalities of applying a decolonial mindset to the library. Interviewed by TIE’s Editor-in-Chief Alexia Hudson-Ward, Jordan underscores that diversifying an institution’s collection is only a starting point. He advocates for library personnel to educate themselves—personally and professionally—on decolonization and DEIA practices, and recommends incorporating Native zines, newsletters, and engaging materials into library resources. Jordan also surfaces examples from his time working in high school, highlighting how librarians can make the library an interactive space with Native art, quotations, and perspectives.

Next, Jordan examines challenges to opening up Native American research, and urges institutions to hire Native staff and faculty to foreground their perspectives and better connect with Native communities. Last, Jordan and Alexia chat about incorporating Native American history into AI tools. Because large language models (LLMs) mine resources that already exist, Jordan cautions that AI-sourced materials will often be problematic or rooted in a colonized mindset. He closes with the value of creating reciprocal partnerships with Native communities that form at the start of new projects and continue through development.

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This two-part series of the Toward Inclusive Excellence (TIE) Podcast features Jordan Clark, Assistant Director of the Harvard University Native American Program (HUNAP) and an enrolled member of the Wampanoag Tribe of Aquinnah. Joined by TIE’s Editor-in-Chief Alexia Hudson-Ward, this series touches on Martha’s Vineyard’s Afro-Indigenous history, adopting a decolonial mindset in higher education, and how Native American history can be integrated into artificial intelligence tools to avoid bias while also protecting Native communities and knowledge.

In this first episode, Jordan shares how in his role he plans to uplift Native voices, platform Native history, and engage with Native communities through the university. Next, Alexia and Jordan discuss the intersections between African American and Native American history, examining enslavement in early America and the US government’s practice of defining racial groups through “blood quantum laws” and the “one drop rule.” Further, they highlight the anti-Blackness perpetuated against the Wampanoag Tribe and how Afro-Indigenous intersections connect to Martha’s Vineyard’s history.

Last, Jordan walks through the difference between “decolonizing” an institution and adopting a decolonial mindset. A collective decolonial mindset—which includes centering new voices, challenging Western values, and updating language—can help break down colonial structures that limit our thought processes, resources, and solutions. Episode one of this enlightening discussion ends with Jordan’s thoughts on how academia can embrace knowledge-sharing that goes beyond the written word.

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In this summer session episode, Toward Inclusive Excellence editor-in-chief Alexia Hudson-Ward sits down with Danielle Terrazas Williams, associate professor of history at the University of Leeds and author of The Capital of Free Women: Race, Legitimacy, and Liberty in Colonial Mexico. Based on her archival research spanning many years and several countries, the title brings forward the stories of free women of African descent in Colonial Mexico and Spanish America. Danielle reviews her exploration of a variety of archives—notarial materials, parish or church records, Mexican national archives—to piece together these Black women’s lives and stories. As Danielle explains, she hopes the title will highlight the long legacy of Black people living in Mexico, therefore disrupting the narrative of Mexicans being primarily of Spanish and Indigenous descent. She discusses the barriers faced when engaging in this course correction, and praises the work of librarians and archivists, particularly those in Mexico who face budgetary and staff challenges.

In addition, Danielle outlines the complex landscape these women navigated in terms of race, religion, economy, and social capital; by employing their own ideals of marriage, denomination, and economic independence, they redefined “legitimacy” in Mexican society. To close, Danielle offers a look ahead to future scholarship, including a book project on the impact of the Society of Jesus on African-descended people in Mexico and research on free Black women in entrepreneurship.

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Toward Inclusive Excellence‘s latest podcast episode features another “In Dialogue” session, which brings together prominent scholars, library leaders, and higher education stakeholders to discuss a timely topic. In time for the end of their tenures, ALA’s 2022-23 President Lessa Kanani’opua Pelayo-Lozada and ACRL’s 2022-23 President Erin L. Ellis sit down with Toward Inclusive Excellence editor-in-chief Alexia Hudson-Ward to discuss the associations’ challenges and successes of the past year. Lessa and Erin detail how each organization worked to address the surge in book bans and attacks on librarianship affecting both public and academic libraries. Further, the guests underscore the strength and power of the library community, highlighting how support can come in many forms, whether through direct advocacy or behind-the-scenes encouragement. In addition, Lessa and Erin explain the importance of self-care as leaders and library workers, and share their own perspectives on the continuous lack of compositional diversity in librarianship—and what can be done to dispel toxic workplace culture and to advance inclusive practices and pipelines. This enlightening discussion brings together library leaders to explore the issues affecting libraries today, and the overlap and community found between the academic and public library spaces.

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In this spring semester episode, Dr. Fredara Hadley, Ethnomusicology Professor in Department of Music History at The Juilliard School, discusses her work as an ethnomusicologist with Toward Inclusive Excellence editor-in-chief Alexia Hudson-Ward. Fredara first outlines her educational path and defines ethnomusicology as the study of music as culture. She also digs into her research on the musical legacies and impact of Historically Black Colleges and Universities by tracing her family’s history with HBCUs and how these institutions act as “important islands of refuge for young Black people.” Fredara explains how the majority of HBCUs emerged during the Reconstruction era in order to segregate university education; however, they have evolved into critical spaces to nurture and support young Black scholars despite threats of closure and continuous underfunding. Next, Fredara chats about the life and impact of Shirley Graham Du Bois, an important musical figure, political force, and world traveler. Married to sociologist W. E. B. Du Bois, she was a key playwright and composer who expanded scholarship in African diaspora studies. Highlighting her work in Ghana as a diplomat and director of Ghana’s first television network, Alexia and Fredara spotlight her fascinating life and theorize why she remains a hidden figure. Last, Fredara closes with her upcoming projects, including a book on HBCU musical legacies that advocates for a subfield of HBCU music studies.

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In this spring semester episode, Dr. Tamika Nunley, Associate Professor and Sandler Family Faculty Fellow at Cornell University, discusses her recent book, At the Threshold of Liberty: Women, Slavery, and Shifting Identities in Washington, D.C. In conversation with Alexia Hudson-Ward, editor-in-chief of Toward Inclusive Excellence, Tamika explores the various livelihoods and everyday struggles of Black women in the Washington D.C. area during the 19th century. Tamika reaches beyond the heroic narratives often highlighted during that time—the educated, philanthropists, civil rights leaders—to humanize and bring forth stories of Black women pursuing sex work, gambling, or illegal pursuits in the name of survival and forging their own liberties. In addition, she describes the documents she used to piece these narratives together, often pulling from accounts of First Ladies and police precinct records to reveal Black women and children in the archive. Further, Tamika underscores how Black women defined liberty for themselves, creating their own versions of freedom under a government that did not grant it. To close, Tamika offers a look into her forthcoming book, The Demands of Justice: Enslaved Women, Capital Crime, and Clemency in Early Virginia, and how writing the title during the early pandemic and George Floyd protests of 2020 inspired and influenced her work.

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