Dear Committee Members,
the email below was sent to the AIW mail server today. Fact is, that I
cannot send it in this form to the whole AIW mailing list. The AIW mail
server cannot function as a platform for discussion, especially not for
Business Meeting discussions. I thought I had made this clear when we
discuss about platforms for the discussion of the AIW Journal. I can send
out max. 2 emails per day through the mail server and I am sure there will
be some responses to this email. If we calculate that only 5 % of the 850
members on the mailing list will responding to this email, there will be
more that 40 emails sent to the mail server. We cannot handle this through
the mail server, because it will be blocked for 20 days then.
Moreover, it is a discussion for AIW Business Meeting, not to the whole
group.
I suggest to discuss this tomorrow during the Committee Meeting. Maybe the
people who undersigned it, can suggest another solution for discussing this
topic without using the AIW mail server?
Best, Renate
Von: Thomas Donald Jacobs <thomasdonald.jacobs(a)ugent.be>
Gesendet: Mittwoch, 1. Juni 2022 08:17
An: members(a)list.american-indian-workshop.org
Betreff: General Business Meeting Item: Hybrid Conferences
Dear colleagues,
During the last general business meeting of the 42nd American Indian
Workshop in Nicosia, concerns were voiced by several people regarding the
safety and well-being of LGBTQIA+ and Two Spirit scholars at future
conferences. This was in relation to forthcoming AIW's set to be held in
countries whose governments have enacted oppressive laws and/or promoted
negative attitudes towards their own LGBTQIA+ communities. Unfortunately,
these concerns were downplayed, invalidated, and ultimately dismissed by
some AIW members. This reflected especially poorly on the AIW considering
that the call for papers last year had resulted in a particularly large
number of LGBTQIA+ and Two Spirit attendees and presenters. Not only do such
microagressions have an accumulative, harmful psychological effect on
minority groups (Johnson et al., 2021), but it gave the impression that
LGBTQIA+ and Two Spirit people are merely objects of study, rather than
respected colleagues with particular expertise and lived experiences.
Nevertheless, the link between the rise of reactionary political movements
and an increase in hate crimes - whether verbal or physical - against sexual
and gender minorities is observable. ILGA-Europe has tracked developments in
human rights relating to the LGBTQIA+ community for over a decade, and its
most recent annual report highlights this connection (ILGA- Europe, 2021).
While ILGA-Europe points out that reactionary movements are inspiring hate
crimes across Europe, countries whose governments have enacted anti-LGBTQIA+
legislation are an especial point of concern for members of that community,
even when such policies are not widely supported among the general
population. Such laws are a form of institutionalized hate speech that not
only contribute to the erosion of anti-discriminatory norms (Bilewicz and
Soral, 2020), but which also have a negative impact on the mental and
physical well-being of their targets via increased minority stress.
It is unreasonable to demand that LGBTQIA+ and Two Spirit academics - many
of whom already combat discrimination on a regular basis in their country of
origin - deal with it abroad when they are simply trying to further their
careers like other scholars. Indeed, we do not want to see anyone - whether
as an organizer or as an attendee - prevented from participating in the AIW
because of political developments beyond their control. Therefore, we
propose that all future conferences be planned as fully hybrid gatherings.
Since the first experiment with webcasting at the 35th AIW in Leiden in
2014, the necessary communications technology has become both easier to use
and more reliable. Moreover, people have become much more familiar with it
as a consequence of the pandemic. Indeed, online conferencing rate
favourably against in-person events on many fronts - the exceptions being
networking and social interaction (Raby and Madden, 2021). And these would
not be entirely lost with a fully hybrid conference.
Thus far, two AIW's have been held entirely online. The experiences of those
organizers can be compiled into a basic manual for future hosts in order to
provide advice on the software, hardware, and personnel necessary for hybrid
conferencing. Not only is this entirely feasible, but it would have
additional benefits for the AIW and its membership. Increasing budget cuts
are having a negative impact on international mobility among humanities
scholars. Eliminating travel costs would allow greater participation, and
encourage academics from further afield to attend the AIW. Finally,
videoconferencing - while not carbon neutral - is undeniably greener and can
be made more so (Ong, Moors and Sivaraman, 2014; Faber, 2021).
Thank you for your consideration,
The undersigned:
Thomas Donald Jacobs
Padraig Kirwan
James Mackay
Amy Ruckes
David Stirrup
Simone van Eik
Dymfke van Lanen
