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Recent Submissions
Anti-Racist Actions and Accountability: Not More Empty Promises
Boykin, C. Malik; Brown, N. Derek; Carter, James T.; Dukes, Kristin; Green, Dorainne, J.; Harrison, Timothy; Hebl, Mikki; McCleary-Grady, Asia; Membere, Ashley; McJunkins, Cordy A.; Simmons, Cortney; Singletary Walker, Sarah; Smith, Alexis Nicole; Williams, Amber D. (Emerald, 2020)
[Excerpt] The current piece summarizes five critical points about racism from the point of view of Black scholars and allies: (1) Black people are experiencing exhaustion from and physiological effects of racism, (2) racism extends far beyond police brutality and into most societal structures, (3) despite being the targets of racism, Black people are often blamed for their oppression and retaliated against for their response to it, (4) everyone must improve their awareness and knowledge (through both formal education and individual motivation) to fight racism and (5) anti-racist policies and accountability are key to enact structural reformation.
What's in a Name? The Hidden Historical Ideologies Embedded in the Black and African American Racial Labels
Hall, Erica V.; Townsend, Sarah S. M.; Carter, James T. (SAGE, 2021)
History can inconspicuously repeat itself through words and language. We explored the association between the “Black” and “African American” racial labels and the ideologies of the historical movements within which they gained prominence (Civil Rights and Black Power, respectively). Two content analyses and two preregistered experimental studies (N = 1,204 White American adults) show that the associations between “Black” and “bias and discrimination” and between “African American” and “civil rights and equality” are evident in images, op-eds, and perceptions of organizations. Google Images search results for “Black people” evoke more racially victimized imagery than search results for “African American people” (Study 1), and op-eds that use the Black label contain more bias and discrimination content than those that use the African American label (Study 2). Finally, White Americans infer the ideologies of organizations by the racial label within the organization’s name (Studies 3 and 4). Consequently, these inferences guide the degree to which Whites support the organization financially.
Research on Anti-Black Racism in Organizations: Insights, Ideas, and Considerations
King, Danielle D.; Hall, Allison V.; Johnson, L.; Carter, James; Burrows, Dominique; Samuel, Naomi (Springer, 2023)
In the wake of recent, highly publicized examples of anti-Black racism, scholars and practitioners are seeking ways to use their skills, resources, and platforms to better understand and address this phenomenon. Naming, examining, and countering anti-Black racism are critical steps toward fostering antiracist science and practice. To support those efforts, this paper details
key insights from past research on anti-Black racism in organizations, draws from critical race perspectives to highlight specific topics that warrant consideration in future research, and offers considerations for how scholars should approach anti-Black racism research. Future research ideas include: specific manifestations of anti-Black racism within organizations, the double-bind of authenticity for Black employees, intersectionality among Black employees, and means of redressing anti-Black racism in organizations. Suggested research considerations include: understanding the history of anti-Black racism within research and integrating anti-Black racism research insights across organizational science. Research insights, ideas, and considerations are outlined to provide context for past and current experiences and guidance for future scholarship concerning anti-Black racism in organizations.
Diversity Initiatives in the US Workplace: A Brief History, Their Intended and Unintended Consequences
Portocarrero, Sandra; Carter, James T. (Elsevier, 2022)
Diversity initiatives are designed to help workers from disadvantaged backgrounds achieve equitable opportunities and outcomes in organizations. However, these programs are often ineffective. To better understand less-than-desired outcomes and the shifting diversity landscape, we synthesize literature on how corporate affirmative action programs became diversity initiatives and current literature on their effectiveness. We focus specifically on work dealing with mechanisms that make diversity initiatives effective as well as their unintended consequences. When taken together, these literature point to several inequality-specific omissions in contemporary discussions of organizational diversity initiatives, such as the omission of racial inequality. As we contend in the first section of this review, without affirmative action law, which initially tasked US employers with ending racial discrimination at the workplace, we would not have diversity initiatives. We conclude by providing directions for future research and elaborating on several core foci that scholars might pursue to better (re)connect issues of organizational diversity with the aims of equity, equality and social justice.
Stomatal Response: An Overview Video for Plant Scientists
Cooke, J. Robert (2023-11-10)
This video summarizes the multi-year plant-water relationships research of the Plant Biomechanics Group at Cornell University in a visual, non-mathematical manner. 1) Our stomatal diffusion research quantified diffusion rates from arrays of stomatal pores with respect to pore width, stomatal density and boundary layer thickness. 2) Our studies of the structural aspects of kidney-shaped stomata (that enable opening and closing) were explored quantitively using a three dimensional, doubly-elliptical shell model. The roles of geometry, micelle and wall thickness were quantified. 3) We also quantitively explored how stomata interact with the rest of the plant, i.e., as part of a system, rather than simply in isolation. We explored both transient and periodic responses, i.e., how fluid and gaseous movements affect pore opening and closing, including how repetitive stomatal oscillations can occur within a perfectly constant environment. We also considered how this affects water use efficiency. Based upon these studies, several CONJECTURES are put forward as a basis for argument about potential adaptations for climate change.