The search for the whole story
March 31, 2023
Examining the past. Designing a better future. That was the order of the day as student researchers from across the state and beyond converged on Roanoke College to take part in the second annual Virginia Conference on Race.
The conference showcased the work of over 30 undergraduate and graduate students from schools that included Virginia Tech, University of Richmond, James Madison University, Roanoke College, Concordia College, Harvard University and more.
In research papers, artwork and short films, students explored complicated questions surrounding race in America. The two-day event kicked off with a keynote address from University of Richmond Associate Professor Ernest McGowen III, who in addition to teaching also serves as the inaugural program coordinator for UR’s Africana Studies Program and director of its Race and Racism Project.
McGowen’s talk, “What happens between the independent and dependent variables? Student activism and institutional change,” offered an analysis of UR’s own recent grappling with its racial history.
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Framing his talk in the context of research — societal variables and antecedents — he urged the students gathered to use their work to seek out the truth.
“Think about what the whole story is and tell that story,” he said, adding at another point, “Understand that we, as teachers, want to make you all better people. I want to be proud of the humans I put out into the world. So, when we teach you to stand up for yourself and tell you to research and make the change that you want to see, we take that seriously.”
The Virginia Conference on Race is an initiative of Roanoke College Assistant Professor Carrie Murawski and the Center for Studying Structures of Race. It was founded last year with a mission to amplify voices in race studies and spur thoughtful, productive conversations around race.
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President Frank Shushok Jr., who delivered the welcoming remarks at the conference’s kickoff, said he was proud of the campus community’s leadership in tackling big issues and fostering environments that encourage students to engage in debate, research and deep thought about the world around them.
“I hope many of you here have the privilege and the opportunity to marvel and be swept up by the unique gifts of students,” Shushok said. “Students bring to everything they do a sense of life and hope and courage and passion.”
“We’re betting on you,” he said, turning his attention directly to the students gathered. “We're counting on you to design a world that is better than the one we have now.”
Scroll through our gallery below to learn more about some of the topics explored during the Virginia Conference on Race 2023.
Virginia Conference on Race 2023
Illegal Dumping in Sacred Waters: In Hawai'i, water or 'wai' is highly revered. But according to the EPA, Pearl Harbor Naval Base includes 12,600 acres of land and water that have been contaminated by metals, organic compounds and petroleum hydrocarbons. Native Hawaiians are not only concerned for their health, but hurt that one of the embodiments of their core principals has been improperly cared for. — Presentation by Samantha Andrews (right) of Roanoke College
The Gentrification of Black Hair Care & Culture: The controversy of non-Black influence in the Black hair care community has started a major uproar. Questions raised include what impact it has when appropriation leads to mass buyouts of products that then become difficult to access. — Presentation by Esther Darko of Roanoke College
The Atlantic Coast Pipeline: Racism in the Development of Modern Infrastructure: This now-defunct proposal for a natural gas pipeline offers a case study in environmental injustice and how to successfully fight against it. It also highlights a larger problem with modern-day infrastructure planning and its effect on already marginalized communities. — Presentation by Jim Nichols of Roanoke College
Cartographies of (im)mobility: An Archival Inquiry of Women's Inclusion at Virginia Tech: In 1921, 49 years after its opening, Virginia Tech admitted (white) women for enrollment. This presentation looks at the stories of those women’s mobility on campus in an effort to envision how they engaged in politics of representation and made room for themselves. — Presentation by Leah Ramnath of Virginia Tech
Race and Racism Oral History Project: Interviews with students and alumni shed light on University of Richmond's handling of race and inclusiveness. This presentation explores those findings and ways to improve conditions on undergraduate campuses. — Presentation by Razan Khalil of University of Richmond
The Legacy of Georgianna Saunders: Race, Gender, and Black Midwifery in Southwest Virginia 1914-1940: Georgianna Saunders was a Black lay midwife who lived in Salem, Virginia. Throughout her career, she engaged in active resistance against state systems such as the Virginia Bureau of Vital Statistics, eugenics and social categorization by providing health care indiscriminately to her patients. But despite her importance, she has been silenced and excluded from state archive records. — Presentation by Ivey Kline of Roanoke College
Emerging Art Histories of Racial Justice: An Intersectional Feminist Oral History Project: Art histories engaging with issues of race have been historically under-researched, overgeneralized and misrepresented. In interviews with emerging art historians who are women of color, this presentation explores how marginalized members of the field navigate the complexities of racial justice research and how their voices can help challenge how institutions produce categories of race and demarcation. — Presentation by Melinda Pierre-Paul Cardinal of Concordia University
“Like Nazi Butchers”: Discourses on Black Genocide and the Limits of Civil Rights in 20th Century America: This presentation examined discourses about “Black genocide” circulating in the U.S. Civil Rights Movement of the 1960s and 1970s and how genocidal fears informed discussions about the sterilization abuse of Black women and contraceptive access in Black communities. — Presentation by Janis Parker of University of Richmond
Beyond Culinary Man: Archipelagic Resistance to Hegemony: The notion of “Culinary Man” derives from Sylvia Wynter’s genealogical account of the “overrepresentation of Man,” which describes the longstanding hegemony of Eurocentric, white, and bourgeois normative subjectivity. This presentation seeks to underscore forms of resistance to Culinary Man as put forth by marginalized culinary workers and Black Feminist conceptualizations of food. — Presentation by Jordan Fallon of Virginia Tech
Racial Grammar And Counter-Storytelling Within True Crime Podcasts: Research indicates that media give disproportionately less coverage to victims of color and that, when they do cover their cases, they use less humanizing and positive grammar. Do these same trends exist in podcasts? This study asks two core questions: How are victims of crime discussed in true crime podcasts? Are these victims discussed differently depending on their race? — Presentation by Macey Porter of James Madison University
Resistance and Endurance in the Face of Adversity: Examining historical death records, court summons, census data, manumission records and free negro certificates of surrounding Richmond counties from the late 18th century and early 19th century, this study was able to put together the previously unknown life of an emancipated Black man named Ralph Perry, who serves as a case study to highlight the experiences of Blacks during this time and how they navigated Virginia laws and policies. — Presentation by Yamir Chapman of University of Richmond
“Is A Heathen Worth Educating?”: Korean Student’s Perspective on Racism in Jim Crow America: Yun Chi-ho, a Korean student at Vanderbilt University and Emory College in the late 19th century, found himself in a society deeply invested in Jim Crow era racism and xenophobia. While studying in the American South, Yun would record everyday encounters, emotions, feelings, memorable conversations, religious anecdotes, and his own prejudices in a diary that he kept for 43 years. — Presentation by Madison Smith of Roanoke College
New Age Colonialism: How Shell has Perpetuated Environmental and Racial Injustice in Nigeria: Drawing on the work of Ken Saro-Wiwa and other Nigerian activists, this presentation examines the political, environmental and social implications of Shell Nigeria’s impact on Nigerian communities. — Presentation by Mikaela Gantz (center) of Roanoke College