Dear colleagues, Over the past few months this topic has showed up on my radar several times and I thought it was important to start a conversation around it within the community.
The community has grown considerably and we have started to venture into new territories where cultures, customs and laws may be quite different from what most of our existing instructors and trainers are familiar with. Just recently, for example, we ran a workshop in Somalia. Our host was wonderful in assisting us to understand sensitivities in the country/culture to ensure our visiting instructors understood what they could expect and also provide some guidance on behaviour, dress code, and sensitive topics. In the end, our instructors had a great time. There are many countries where conversations about gender identity (especially openly declaring one's affiliation to a non-binary gender and explicitly showing pronouns on workshop or conference badges), religion, evolution, etc look very different from, for example, the same conversations in California, London, or Sydney. In some cases having alternative views from the state, may put individuals at risk of prosecution, rejection by family members, etc. An example might be the reality of LGBQT rights in Africa ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LGBT_rights_in_Africa). We want to help our visiting instructors be informed of cultural sensitivities before they travel, but at the same time we want to foster a more inclusive culture in The Carpentries by providing insights into various cultures. *Action: * If you are aware of any cultural sensitivities that visiting instructors should be aware of when visiting your country or region, teaching instructor training (some topics may be harder to discuss in various regions), or engaging in conversation via the various platforms available to The Carpentries community, please let us know? If you have any thoughts on how to create awareness in the community about these topics, we want to hear from you as well. Dr Kari Jordan and Serah Rono will be taking a lead on this activity and will ensure the information that is shared is treated with the proper discretion and shared with the broader Carpentries community in a sensitive but informative way. *Getting in touch:* Please email Dr Kari Jordan at [email protected] or Serah Rono at [email protected]. You are also welcome to post information at https://github.com/carpentries/equity-and-inclusion/issues/5 if you feel comfortable to do so - remember that the issues are openly available online. If you want to submit information anonomously, please use this form - https://forms.gle/ZtvhrNywdTXBauJP8 We thank you for your collaboration and openness to accept our diverse community members as they are with consideration for the fact that individuals' beliefs and opinions may differ from the status quo of their country but that admitting that openly may put them at risk. Kind regards, Anelda ------------------------------------------ The Carpentries: discuss Permalink: https://carpentries.topicbox.com/groups/discuss/T58ed3429f676d7c6-Mc91eedc8fd1fdcd43f30e0f6 Delivery options: https://carpentries.topicbox.com/groups/discuss/subscription
