Diversity Committee Past Events
On October 1st a Difficult Dialogue -meant to create a space of listening and learning about the perspectives of others- took place among many students, some teachers, the Dean, and the UCU diversity committee. We all agreed that the news about the Middle East give us a sense of devastation and frustration. For almost two hours we were thinking together, in a mixed atmosphere of gratitude and frustration at not being able to do more and more quickly. For almost 2 hours the students shared their careful observations about UU rules and frameworks and their informed suggestions of courses of action for the Dean to bring to the table during future meetings with other deans and the UU Board of Directors. Later quite a few students left, mentioning their disappointment at not having obtained an agreement on total boycott of Israel.
For more information please see the event page.
Following the Dean’s Diversity Initiative and other event’s discussing transphobia and gender diversity on campus the Diversity Committee will be holding a harvesting session to hear feedback and proposals of how to move forward. Join us on Tuesday the 16th in Voltaire A from 15:00-16:30. Your ideas and perspectives will help us shape interventions on Gender Diversity for the UCU community and we look forward to seeing you there.
The Diversity Committee invites the UCU community to the first Difficult Dialogue —the topic, chosen by students, is Loneliness.
- Tuesday March 19, 13-14.30, Voltaire A.
- This is a safe space to share your experiences, feelings, and practice radical listening about difficult topics that are important to you.
- Through meaningful exchanges, we hope to meet across our differences and foster a sense of belonging at UCU, also beyond our close-knit circles.
- Loneliness comes in various forms and feelings, and they all matter! Be it homesickness, a feeling that no place is home, social anxiety, a sense of separateness, or any other form of lonesomeness, they are all valid.
- Bring your own mugs for tea, to go with the snacks that will be provided!
- This shared space will be a warm and relaxed one, feel free to bring your own blanket, stuffed toy, anything that makes you feel comfortable.
- Please extend this invitation to your unit-mates, teachers, classmates, tutors, and colleagues.
For more information please see the event page.
A guest lecture by Peter Hershock
with deep gratitude to dr. Gunter Bombaerts (Eindhoven Center for the Philosophy of AI), and prof. Joel Anderson (Utrecht University Ethics Institute) for inviting Peter to the Netherlands.
All are welcome!
Peter D. Hershock is an intercultural philosopher who makes use of Buddhist resources to reflect on contemporary issues of global concern. He is the Director of the Asian Studies Development Program and coordinator of the Humane Artificial Intelligence Initiative at the East-West Center in Honolulu. He has written or edited more than a dozen books, including Reinventing the Wheel: A Buddhist Response to the Information Age; Buddhism in the Public Sphere: Reorienting Global Interdependence; Valuing Diversity: Buddhist Reflection on Realizing a More Equitable Global Future; and Buddhism and Intelligent Technology: Toward a More Humane Future. His newest book, Consciousness Mattering: A Buddhist Synthesis, offers nondualist theory of consciousness and raises ethical questions about machine consciousness, the algorithmic hacking of human consciousness, and humanity’s evolutionary future. He is a daily surfer, a happily amateur cook of world cuisines, and an untrained enthusiast of improvised music.
Title: CONSCIOUSNESS, MATTER, AND WHAT MATTERS: WHERE SCIENCE AND ETHICS CONVERGE
Abstract: Consciousness matters. Without consciousness, gender could not matter; politics would not matter. Even life would not matter. Given this, it’s surprising that the nature and origin of consciousness remain philosophical and scientific mysteries. We have no “solution” to the “hard problem of consciousness” of explaining how phenomenal experience emerges out of brain activity, or how our minds emerge out of meat. In this talk—based on convergences among Buddhist investigations of consciousness, brain-imaging studies, and important currents of contemporary evolutionary theory, cosmology, and physics—I’ll make a case for accepting that the “hard problem” of consciousness cannot solved, but that it can and should be dissolved, and that failing to do so is an ethical dereliction that greenlights mass experimentation in digitally hacking human consciousness and places at risk our most essential human right: our right to freedom-of-attention.
Time: Thursday Feb 8 2024, 11-12.45.
Venue: UCU, Malala Lounge, Dining Hall, Maupertuusplein 1, Utrecht
Framework: UCU class Who are we? Philosophical views on self and others
TV series: You may become acquainted with Peter, not only through his writings, but also through his contribution to the TV series Food for Thought.
Over the past weeks the Diversity Committee has been busy with Sharing Spaces: we discussed and practised together UCU existing activities and the exercises Amparo Gonzalez Sola showed us to relate to each other in class, as students and teachers, with awareness and care.
But sometimes UCU community members tell us that they don’t feel heard, and that they would want spaces where they can practise to develop their voice even when it is different from others.
Advised by students and teachers, we have realised that we can do more to develop a feeling of belonging at UCU, so that we can all gradually feel more at home, also beyond our close-knit circle. We think that the way to go is to learn how to practise radical listening, especially as a way to engage in difficult dialogues across differences —which are essential in times of crises.
Therefore we are now moving forward with listening to you.
We invite everyone who wishes to be heard, to learn to listen, to help create a community and a sense of belonging across differences, to come and share their suggestions of what should be done to strengthen belonging to come to Voltaire A, Nov. 28, 15:00-17:00.
We have developed a draft-structure of how the practice of “Developing Belonging through Difficult Listening” could look like. But we want to find out if this is what our community wants and, if it is so, we are very flexible and open to revising it or changing it, or completing it e.g. by organising a listening workshop at the beginning of the semester. This way we aim to fulfil the needs and expectations of our community and utilise the expertise of all participants.
Draft structure of “Developing Belonging through Difficult Listening” practice at UCU, starting Spring 2024
- We invite the whole community to choose, for instance at the beginning of each semester, a few issues on which they would like to reflect together with people who might have different experiences or emotions.
- We invite, for instance once a month, people to sign up (max 15 people per group, if needed we have multiple groups) for the Developing Belonging through Difficult Listening.
- Attendees are encouraged to bring a little snack, we also have tea.
- We start the meeting by one or two exercises (cf. Amparo’s Exploring Reciprocity workshop), to enter in relation with others in an embodied way, aware of the reciprocity involved in our encounters and exchanges
- We share tea and snacks, while asking everyone: “which conversation rules do you think are important?” which is also a short way to create a principled space.
- Then, in the first round, the attendees share their experiences and emotions, one by one; the others listen.
- In the second round, we ask respectful and compassionate questions to each other, trying to keep a call-and-response structure.
- Then the dialogue can continue organically.
We welcome everyone to come and share their suggestions towards this practice (or a different one) on Nov 28, 15.00-17.00, so that we can make this a regular occurrence, starting from the Spring semester.
With love,
The Diversity Committee
Dr. Pius Mosima is from the Department of Philosophy, University of Bamenda, Cameroon and currently a Senior Research Fellow in the Bantu Philosophy Project, which is established at the Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam. He is an expert in African Intercultural philosophy, with a focus on the methodological and socio-political aspects of interculturality. From his PhD on philosophic sagacity on Henry Odera Oruka (Mosima 2016) onward he has worked on the question how African philosophical perspectives can help to address humanity’s common problems in this age of globalized difference. He published widely in ethics, philosophy of religion, environmental and intercultural philosophy, always with the questions of an African ontology and epistemology in mind.
In this lecture Dr. Pius Mosima focuses on concepts of the African self as being-in- community by analyzing the relationship between self and community in African thought. Specifically, first, Dr. Mosima examines the normative status of the self in African communitarianism, commonly known as radical communitarianism, as articulated by Ifeanyi Menkiti and the criticisms by Kwame Gyekye known as moderate communitarianism. Second, Dr. Mosima examines the philosophy of Ubuntu and establish that the communitarian dimension is very strong in defining the status of the self in African community. The self is an extended self that exists in connection with the other and is continuously shaped in relation to others. Finally, Dr. Mosima argues, following Michael Eze, for a contemporaneous formation in which the individual and the community are not radically opposed in the sense of priority. (Recommended preparatory reading: Menkiti, I.A., 1984, 'Person and Community in African Traditional Thought'. African philosophy: An introduction, 3, pp.171-182)
Monday Mon 27/11, 15.45-1730, Malala Lounge (Dining Hall)
Dr. Pius Mosima is from the Department of Philosophy, University of Bamenda, Cameroon and currently a Senior Research Fellow in the Bantu Philosophy Project, which is established at the Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam. He is an expert in African Intercultural philosophy, with a focus on the methodological and socio-political aspects of interculturality. From his PhD on philosophic sagacity on Henry Odera Oruka (Mosima 2016) onward he has worked on the question how African philosophical perspectives can help to address humanity’s common problems in this age of globalized difference. He published widely in ethics, philosophy of religion, environmental and intercultural philosophy, always with the questions of an African ontology and epistemology in mind.
In this lecture, Dr. Pius Mosima (University of Bamenda, Cameroon) presents a short overview of systematic African philosophy through a reading of the main periods, criteria, themes, and schools from an intercultural perspective. Dr. Mosima focuses on the debates on the identity, nature and relevance of African philosophy, and how these could enrich and be enriched by other globally available traditions of thought. (Recommended preparatory reading: Mosima, P.M., 2016. Philosophic sagacity and intercultural philosophy: beyond Henry Odera Oruka, 1-22)
Monday Mon 20/11, 15.45-1730, Malala Lounge (Dining Hall)
Tue. 14/11 Voltaire A, 15.00-16.00 “Recommendation round table” with UCU community: practices of learning together in a classroom space (Shared Spaces theme)
In this session, faculty and students will reflect together on what practices can foster our learning together in a classroom space, while valuing the diversity of our group.
Those of us who attended the Exploring Reciprocity workshop, may share Amparo’s ideas of reciprocity and related practices. Everyone who would like to reflect on issues related to the following questions is welcome:
How can a lens and practice of ‘reciprocity’ —or other practices that focus on fostering relations and shared responsibility— strengthen our classroom spaces? In other words, what practices can improve our capacity to facilitate spaces of genuine dialogue, care, listening, mutual exchange and learning? Importantly, how may it further our aims of creating civil and inclusive spaces? What are some of the barriers to actualizing such ideas and practices in our UCU classrooms? We invite everyone to share their thoughts and experiences.
Tue. 31/10 Malala Lounge, 15.00-16.30, “'Exploring Reciprocity' Amparo Gonzales workshop” (Shared Spaces theme)
'Exploring Reciprocity' - a workshop in which we will explore moving and being moved with each other. Led by choreographer, teacher and researcher Amparo Gonzalez Sola
Since 2019/20 Amparo has been proposing a series of practices through which she invites the people of a community (in the case of Utrecht to psychiatric clients, therapists, and neighbours from the village of Den Dolder, NL) to experience, to reflect and to create a state of reciprocity through very simple propositions of perception, movement and conversation: to move and be moved, to touch and be touched, to listen and be listened… More information about Amparo’s research: https://amparogonzalezsola.com/right-now/
No prior experience in dance is needed, but please wear comfortable clothes. Open to all UCU faculty, students and staff. Please register —ASAP, first come first served!— by signing up here: https://forms.gle/8ffqeKXZRp19uxYNA Note that there is a limited number of participants.
Speaker: Li-fan Lee (Leiden University)
Title: “The Taiwan Issue”
Abstract: Is Taiwan part of China? How ought we make sense of their relationship, and how ought the situation be resolved, in terms of both procedure and result? Beyond geopolitical calculations, the case of Taiwan involves much deeper but seriously overlooked moral-ethical concerns that demand our attention as a modern global civilization.
Venue: Malala Lounge, Dining Hall
Time: Tuesday, Oct. 24, 11.00-12.45
Tue. 24/10, Voltaire A, 15.00-16.00 “Shared Spaces strategies” (Shared Spaces theme)
We invite everyone to come and speak about ways and strategies they use in relating with others: what do you do to prepare, to invite, to sustain your lecturer-student, tutee-tutor and colleague-colleague relationships in the classroom and in the office? How do you make a space in which you relate with others respectful, engaging and dynamic?
For the Fall Semester of 2023 the Diversity Committee events follow the theme of "Shared Spaces". We believe that classrooms and offices are not places where disembodied minds transmit information to each other, but places where complex, unique and special people, with a rich baggage of experiences, relate —or, sometimes, have trouble relating with each other. We also want to share practices to help teachers go beyond the “sage on the stage” approach to education. With the theme “Shared Spaces” we hope to bring diverse groups of our community together, rather than targeting only one identity category at a time (for instance ‘student’, ‘teacher’, ‘PoC’, ‘queer’, ‘first generation’, ‘neurodivergent’, etc.) —however, there will be ample opportunity to reflect on the role that different identifiers play a role when relating in a shared space. We hope that many join this opportunity to listen to each other, and reflect together on how to make our shared spaces more welcoming, while valuing and practising the diversity of our community.
Tuesday 2nd May: workshop with Pravini Baboeram / ECHO
Time: 15:00-17:30
Location: Remindo Room
In this workshop we will reflect and practice ways for creating a climate of diversity and inclusion. Pravini will provide us with dialogue and reflection exercises that aim towards empathy, in which we will need to step into someone else’s shoes and look through the living experience of another person.
Pravini Baboeram works in ECHO, Center for Diversity Policy, which is a non-profit organization focused on diversity and inclusion (D&I) in higher education and the labour market. They have a specific focus on cultural diversity from an intersectional perspective and facilitate the process of “getting comfortable with the uncomfortable”.
Open to all UCU faculty, students and staff.
Please register by sending an email to: ucu.diversitycom@uu.nl.
“Intervention: round table” the week after the Doing diversity event, everybody who has a concrete intervention about the theme of the month can join us: we gather suggestions from the community.
'Access intimacy' has been described by Mia Mingus, writer, educator and trainer for transformative and disability justice, as “that feeling when someone else “gets” your access needs” and as “ interdependence in action [since]... it reframes both how and where solidarity can be practiced.” The meeting on April 11 is to share our stories related to being disabled, neurodivergent, experiencing racism, sexism, exclusion; or, in turn, stories related to having experienced access intimacy inside a (mini)community. The event of April 18 is for everybody to share their concrete intervention about the theme of the month: we gather suggestions from the community.
Voltaire B
Voltaire B
We recently became familiar with the term 'access intimacy'. It has been described by Mia Mingus, writer, educator and trainer for transformative and disability justice, as “that feeling when someone else “gets” your access needs” and as “ interdependence in action [since]... it reframes both how and where solidarity can be practiced.” We realised that we have often craved it, needed it. We invite you to a space where we can all share our stories related to being disabled, neurodivergent, experiencing racism, sexism, exclusion; or, in turn, stories related to having experienced access intimacy inside a (mini)community. We hope that together we can try to be the sort of community that seeks to practice access intimacy for all.
To follow up on our intriguing 'Doing Diversity' event with the African and Caribbean Heritage Network and our alumna Vicky Pinheiro Keulers from the Anti-Racist Student Action group, we are holding our 'Intervention Roundtable', With this event, we aim to collect propositions and ideas to continue our ventures in creating an anti-racist UCU systematically and culturally. Since we hope to discuss a continuation of the previous actions taken, please take a look at the demands created by the Anti-Racist Student Action Group, which has been shared in the discussion section of this event. This is clearly a crucial endeavor to continue in our community and we look forward to fostering its growth and impact within UCU's structure and every day. Let's work together!
We will be joined by the African and Caribbean Heritage Network as we review the efforts of the Anti-Racist Student Action group, as well as our own alumna Vicky Keulers, who will be returning as a previous member of this group to reinvigorate this conversation.
The topic for this month is Anti-Racism, which will be kicked off with the aid of the African and Caribbean Heritage Network during our 'Doing Diversity' event. We hope to review the efforts towards Anti-Racism that were previously discussed at UCU, mostly by the Anti-Racist Student Action group. To help us with this, we will also be joined by our own alumna Vicky Pinheiro Keulers, who will be returning as a previous member of this group to reinvigorate this conversation. After such a positive attendance last month, we look forward to your insights as a community and to enlivening this discussion. See you then!
To continue our February focus on class consciousness, the Diversity Committee is hosting an 'Intervention Roundtable' -- an opportunity for anyone with concrete recommendations, ideas, or advice for our university to take into account when discussing material changes in policy. With this event, we hope to harvest your ideas to make tangible changes for the better.
This event succeeds our 'Doing Diversity' event from this week, where we had a fantastic turnout and were able to get the ball rolling regarding this topic. We are very thankful to FLISS for spearheading this event, and for the emotional and intellectual energy it took from everyone to contribute to this discussion. Let's intervene!
The First-generation Low-Income Scholarship Students (FLISS) team will join us to discuss what they want us to know about class and how this section of diversity is experienced at UCU. We look forward to engaging with this topic further and working on the shoulders of the students and staff who discussed and fought for the visibility of class differences in the past. Let's do diversity!
The Diversity Committee is excited to host a student presentation/Q&A session on Neurodivergent at University and how our own ND students experience and navigate UCU!
Muskaan will discuss ADHD and OCD, Lotte will talk about dyslexia and Martha will discuss ASD.
2020 - 2021
- BLM @UU: Creating Change “Why Black Lives Matter in Europe” | Video
- UCU Brown Bag Diversity Lunch Series
- UCU Student-led Diversity Symposium
Diversity Committee Involvement:
At UCU, the Diversity Committee organizes events to share experiences about Equity, Diversity and Inclusion topics, such as neurodiversity, first generation students, class, anti-racism, belonging, hidden-disabilities, access intimacy, the role of embodied practices in inclusive education, etc. We also collect data, devise practices and interventions, and formulate recommendations.Would you like to help the Diversity committee, by reading up on the current literature on the topics of our events, by processing and researching the data that we are collecting, and making them accessible to the UCU community? Consider applying for a Research Assistantship position! https://students.uu.nl/en/university-college-utrecht/research-assistantships-current-projects
Lectures
This lecture performance is a journey through the lens of Li Yuchen, as she traverses the Tanzanian landscape and encounters three imprints of Chinese migration revealing stories behind them. A family running a noodle business, a prominent cultural ambassador in prison for ivory smuggling, and a Buddhist temple housing local orphans. Spanning different decades and contexts, these three personal trajectories come together to reflect on China’s relation with Tanzania and complicate the big narratives surrounding China such as an anti-colonization ally or a neo-colonial rising power.
Abstract: Processes through which personhood is recognized socially vary cross-culturally, demonstrating that notions of personhood are not universal. In this lecture, I argue that in African thought the concept of person is linked indissolubly to that of community. It is the philosophy of We - I. I sketch the debates among African(ist) scholars on the person and also identify points of dialogue with Western philosophy.
Dr. Mosima is affiliated with the universities of Bamenda (Cameroon), and VU (Amsterdam, NL) https://vu.nl/.../cluethe.../more-about/dr-pius-mosima; https://www.ascleiden.nl/.../ASC.../members/pius-m-mosima
Report: Dr. Mosima ( universities of Bamenda, Cameroon), and VU, Amsterdam, NL) first presented various African philosophical perspectives on this topic and then referred to his own lived life in Cameroon. Careful not to generalise, he looked for commonalities in various traditional African settings, through different African authors, and explained how the concept of person is indissolubly linked to that of community, and how personhood is not regarded as present at birth but as acquired in stages. There was ample time for discussion; our students were wonderful in asking questions that were careful, critical, and heart-felt.