An Introduction to Institutional Racism and White Supremacy Culture in STEAM, Academia, and Scientific Illustration
Science, academia, and institutional racism are interconnected. Historically--and regardless of intent--science has been a tool used to legitimize and codify racist ideas within our academic, social, and political systems. These institutions rely on scientific research to not only inform, but also to validate policies that affect the ways that opportunity, resources, and power are distributed in our communities. When science holds such power, scientific racism cannot be ignored. STEAM (science, technology, engineering, art, and math) and other academic communities are no exception.
Consider the world-renowned scientist--and scientific illustrator--Carl Linneaeus. His famous work, Systema Naturae (1735), introduced us not only to modern taxonomy, but also to the racist idea that humanity can be classified into distinct species based on race, temperament, and governability. Systema Naturae informed the thinking of Pieter Camper, the scientific illustrator who proposed the Camper’s Angle (1770). This theory posited that race, along with human’s evolutionary distance from apes, can be determined by certain angles in the face. In 1775, the German scientist, doctor, and anthropologist Johann Blumenbach expounded on Linneaeus’ racist theories. He used scientific illustration to categorize the human species into five races based on skull measurements, and theorized that such differences were indications of both civility and intellect. These ideas lay the foundation for scientific racism, which gave way to phrenology (1796) and eugenics (1883). Though these theories are now widely discredited, many of the methodologies persist and are decontextualized from their violent history.
When racist ideas are built into a system, the system itself perpetuates institutional racism, utilizing exclusionary frameworks that benefit white people at the expense of minoritized communities. Science is performed by scientists; like everyone else, scientists are people who are not immune to the cultural norms and social hierarchies that shape identities and inform biases. In the United States, these norms and hierarchies are deeply informed by colonial history, imperialism, patriarchal values, and institutional racism. Thus, as white, masculine, cisgender, able bodies continue to dominate science and academia, so do their perspectives, influencing how research is conducted, synthesized, communicated, and implemented in the wider world. Regardless of intent, this centering of whiteness not only devalues the voices and the work of non-white scientists, but also creates a culture of exclusion, erasure, and oppression that has consequences extending far beyond the scientific community.
Centering whiteness is entangled with the characteristics of white supremacy culture. Naming white supremacy is challenging and charged in any context; it immediately conjures a visceral history of slurs, hate groups, colonization, and horrific violence that is deeply traumatic. These represent the most visible and widely recognized manifestations of white supremacy culture, the proverbial tip of the iceberg. Less visible are some of the more subtle characteristics familiar to those in STEAM and academia: individualism, defensiveness, perfectionism, binary thinking, objectivity, and reverence for quantitative measures and scholarship. Individuals must adapt and conform to the culture in order to be recognized, respected, and successful. The consequences are narrow and exclusionary science, as these characteristics leave little room for other ways of thinking and being.
White supremacy is an expansive and complex culture that adapts to accommodate society’s ever-changing perspective of acceptability, coding racist ideas into palatable narratives that are harder to identify and thus easier to dismiss. Like all cultures, the narratives of white supremacist culture are perpetuated through communication--shared knowledge, experience, beliefs, values, and institutions. Thus, it is essential to approach science communication through an anti-racist lens and actively work against white supremacy culture and institutional racism in STEAM and academia.
Consider the world-renowned scientist--and scientific illustrator--Carl Linneaeus. His famous work, Systema Naturae (1735), introduced us not only to modern taxonomy, but also to the racist idea that humanity can be classified into distinct species based on race, temperament, and governability. Systema Naturae informed the thinking of Pieter Camper, the scientific illustrator who proposed the Camper’s Angle (1770). This theory posited that race, along with human’s evolutionary distance from apes, can be determined by certain angles in the face. In 1775, the German scientist, doctor, and anthropologist Johann Blumenbach expounded on Linneaeus’ racist theories. He used scientific illustration to categorize the human species into five races based on skull measurements, and theorized that such differences were indications of both civility and intellect. These ideas lay the foundation for scientific racism, which gave way to phrenology (1796) and eugenics (1883). Though these theories are now widely discredited, many of the methodologies persist and are decontextualized from their violent history.
When racist ideas are built into a system, the system itself perpetuates institutional racism, utilizing exclusionary frameworks that benefit white people at the expense of minoritized communities. Science is performed by scientists; like everyone else, scientists are people who are not immune to the cultural norms and social hierarchies that shape identities and inform biases. In the United States, these norms and hierarchies are deeply informed by colonial history, imperialism, patriarchal values, and institutional racism. Thus, as white, masculine, cisgender, able bodies continue to dominate science and academia, so do their perspectives, influencing how research is conducted, synthesized, communicated, and implemented in the wider world. Regardless of intent, this centering of whiteness not only devalues the voices and the work of non-white scientists, but also creates a culture of exclusion, erasure, and oppression that has consequences extending far beyond the scientific community.
Centering whiteness is entangled with the characteristics of white supremacy culture. Naming white supremacy is challenging and charged in any context; it immediately conjures a visceral history of slurs, hate groups, colonization, and horrific violence that is deeply traumatic. These represent the most visible and widely recognized manifestations of white supremacy culture, the proverbial tip of the iceberg. Less visible are some of the more subtle characteristics familiar to those in STEAM and academia: individualism, defensiveness, perfectionism, binary thinking, objectivity, and reverence for quantitative measures and scholarship. Individuals must adapt and conform to the culture in order to be recognized, respected, and successful. The consequences are narrow and exclusionary science, as these characteristics leave little room for other ways of thinking and being.
White supremacy is an expansive and complex culture that adapts to accommodate society’s ever-changing perspective of acceptability, coding racist ideas into palatable narratives that are harder to identify and thus easier to dismiss. Like all cultures, the narratives of white supremacist culture are perpetuated through communication--shared knowledge, experience, beliefs, values, and institutions. Thus, it is essential to approach science communication through an anti-racist lens and actively work against white supremacy culture and institutional racism in STEAM and academia.
